Nov-24-2022, 04:39 AM
I've been coding since 1982, learned python seriously a few years back (I'm a perl bigot) and my teenagers are about to start University to learn coding.
I've also been mentoring (python) some Uni kids this year - and, long-story-short, they're drowning.
To prepare my boys, I'd like to spend a few months getting them to learn Python *before* they learn it at Uni - the general idea being that they'll do well at Uni and their exams, when they're using that course as "revision" instead of "learning".
The Uni has some great online courses, ruined by using garbage IDE's and brainless auto-grader software in combination with disastrously badly specified projects they're supposed to work on - boggles my mind how so many kids paying so MUCH money to learn end up getting such a shitty deal.... but I digress...
Has anyone encountered some outstanding online courses for Python that they'd recommend for total n00bs? (beside hacking Minecraft years ago, and playing with "scratch" in primary school, they've done no coding since).
I'm also thinking that simultaneously teaching them JavaScript might be a worthwhile endeavor? - the general idea being that no-matter-what, they're going to need to know both those languages, and leaning to code with two-at-once should help them comprehend coding *concepts* in a more language-independent way, so when they encounter go/perl/c/ https://youtu.be/6avJHaC3C2U?t=2103 in future, they've got a better chance of quickly doing useful stuff and working it all out sensibly. Thoughts ?
Obviously, since BASIC/Pascal and 6502 assembly in 1982, I've grown up with this stuff - and I like to think I'm somewhat good at programming from all that experience. Exactly how to educate "new people" into the modern probably-overwhelming-to-them coding ecosystem is something I've got no clue about (and that's not even *Starting* on the main obstacle here... the word "teenager").
Has anyone done this recently with their own kids? Got any tips??
Any/all advice greatly appreciated!!
I've also been mentoring (python) some Uni kids this year - and, long-story-short, they're drowning.
To prepare my boys, I'd like to spend a few months getting them to learn Python *before* they learn it at Uni - the general idea being that they'll do well at Uni and their exams, when they're using that course as "revision" instead of "learning".
The Uni has some great online courses, ruined by using garbage IDE's and brainless auto-grader software in combination with disastrously badly specified projects they're supposed to work on - boggles my mind how so many kids paying so MUCH money to learn end up getting such a shitty deal.... but I digress...
Has anyone encountered some outstanding online courses for Python that they'd recommend for total n00bs? (beside hacking Minecraft years ago, and playing with "scratch" in primary school, they've done no coding since).
I'm also thinking that simultaneously teaching them JavaScript might be a worthwhile endeavor? - the general idea being that no-matter-what, they're going to need to know both those languages, and leaning to code with two-at-once should help them comprehend coding *concepts* in a more language-independent way, so when they encounter go/perl/c/ https://youtu.be/6avJHaC3C2U?t=2103 in future, they've got a better chance of quickly doing useful stuff and working it all out sensibly. Thoughts ?
Obviously, since BASIC/Pascal and 6502 assembly in 1982, I've grown up with this stuff - and I like to think I'm somewhat good at programming from all that experience. Exactly how to educate "new people" into the modern probably-overwhelming-to-them coding ecosystem is something I've got no clue about (and that's not even *Starting* on the main obstacle here... the word "teenager").
Has anyone done this recently with their own kids? Got any tips??
Any/all advice greatly appreciated!!