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by RodgerTheGreat 4944 days ago
For someone who already knows how to program, Python seems to be very easy to pick up. It's still a tremendously more complex language than BASIC.

I help teach an after-school programming class for middle schoolers. Last year, we tried using Python. While some students got the hang of it, many seemed confused and demotivated.

This year, I wrote a simple TinyBASIC REPL from scratch[1], aiming to produce the simplest subset of the language that made it possible to do interesting things and illustrate concepts like looping, branching, variables, etc. It was a big hit with the kids, and the whole class has been extremely engaged. As a next step, I've built a Logo[2] implementation so that we can move into writing modular, reusable procedures and play with graphics.

Learning to program is almost entirely orthogonal to learning a language, and I think that starting with very small "toy" languages is a good way to approach teaching core concepts without getting lost in the quirks and complex features of popular "real" languages. BASIC is small, Python will never be.

  [1]https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Mako/tree/master/demos/Masica
  [2]https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Mako/tree/master/demos/Loko
2 comments
sown 4944 days ago
>I've built a Logo[2] implementation so that we can move into writing modular, reusable procedures and play with graphics.

I've always felt that it's hard to go against Logo. When I was a kid, there was a direct connection between what I did on the keyboard and what the turtle would do.

That language changes your brain, not your data. Thus, it is one of the most important languages.

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modernise 4943 days ago
Remember those laptops for African kids? They integrated Python for learning to program. I only watched the video, back then, but I remember them showing the Python console.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child
  
  Pippy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7aQxYuKJ18
  Turtle Art https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2MblcmwWo8
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RodgerTheGreat 4943 days ago
Interestingly, OLPCs also come preloaded with a Forth environment by virtue of the fact that they use OpenFirmware: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/FORTH
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