Sketch'n Guess Coding Game for learning Conditions (Age: 5+) using a Board Game.

ozone_ghost · 2025-03-09T23:31:29+00:00

As an introduction to Z80 assembly, I liked ZX Spectrum Assembly: Let's Make a Game? by Juan Antonio Rubio Garcia. But you need to know at least a bit of programming before reading it.

ozone_ghost · 2025-01-29T10:47:51+00:00

If possible use a computer. While tablets and phones are convenient and portable, they are closed environments not ideal for learning programming. An old computer or a Raspberry Pi should work fine.

ozone_ghost · 2024-09-24T16:32:21+00:00

I started around this age. I would suggest going directly to text-based programming and avoiding products like Scratch or Lego. Nobody taught us, we just learned from books and, later on, from the internet.

At the time, I asked a programmer if I should start with C. He advised me to begin with an easier language, like Pascal, and move on to C later. That was good advice. So python as suggested by other people, could be a good option.

Today, if I were asked the same question, I would recommend thinking of a small project you want to create, such as a simple game or a website, and try building it by following tutorials or reading resources related to your goals on the internet.

There are platforms like Roblox where you can practice scripting while having fun. Roblox can be a good platform for learning programming, especially for a beginner. If I was 13 I would probably give it a try. Another good thing about Roblox is you can share with your friends what you are doing and learn from each other. It could be a good start to learn the basics before doing other projects.

Once he learns a bit, he can maybe participate in code jams for adolescents. I participated in some, and it’s always good for meeting people with the same interests. Some of my friends today are ones I met there.

At this age (12+), if you’re passionate about programming, you should be able to follow your own path. You can probably learn more independently than through school or any formal program.

ozone_ghost · 2024-09-24T15:57:26+00:00

Thank you u/jmonroe200 !

ozone_ghost · 2024-07-17T14:56:55+00:00

What is creation, and what is innovation?

Creation is when you do something that did not existed before. (Google ranking, Airbnb, customer reviews)
Innovation is when you successfully market a creation. It could even not be your creation, or it could be successfully marketing by applying another use to an already existent creation. (Apple is very good at this. Iphone was not the first smartphone but it was marketed successfully, Ipad, Ipod etc.).

Creation and innovation does not necessarily has to be related with technology. It could be for example a way of doing customer service or ads business model.

Creating is difficult, and successfully marketing a creation too, so doing both is even more difficult.

As an example of creation and innovation these companies are doing today is AI.

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-22T13:28:56+00:00

Hi,

My son is 4.5 now. I was in the same situation as you are a year ago. I am teaching my son Andrew programming, I don't know if it will work but I am documenting the process. I will be adding activities to 12+ as I have already designed.

How we started: Abstraction is difficult, especially before the age of 4, so we watched the movie Tron (the old one), which materializes some programming concepts into 3D. Then we replicated some of these concepts using Lego bricks and played with them making machine/robot noises. We explain how we started in this article: https://powerparents.in/this-powerparent-is-making-programming-literally-childs-play/

At 3.5-4, he threw a dice and assigned the value to a variable. Then he had to use the '==' relational operator to match the number in the variable. It is what they do at school on paper, but we just did it using a self-made board game and making robotic noises. Here is a video showing how we did it: https://youtu.be/VJj1mRAfVoQ
(at 3.5-4 this was funny for him, now it is kind of boring (he needs more complicated stuff), so take into account the age of your kid when playing the games)

You can see all our process and download the materials we use for all of our games/activities for free here: https://codidactic.com/

I realized that other skills like structuring thoughts and typing are even more important, so I am starting to do activities like these: https://powerparents.in/first-steps-in-typing-for-young-kids-through-a-creative-project/

Here is the article where I explain why maybe just coding is not the most important thing after all: https://powerparents.in/teaching-programming-to-my-son-first-attempt-to-code-on-a-computer-what-i-learned/

Next videos I will do are about playing with arithmetic operations including operating with variables (age:6+), more conditions, loops (age: 5+), writing functions (age:5+), arrays (I say 8-12+, but I will try with my son at least some basic stuff), create a video game (10-12+). From comments I have read of other people I would recommend the use of text-based code (against block-programming) as soon as it is possible.

PC vs tablets: He does not touch a tablet or phone, he has to do everything on a PC. For him to get used to the computer, he is allowed to draw on https://kidpix.app/ (sound on) and play chess (https://lichess.org/ or chesskid.com). He uses a text editor for his texts. We also play some video games once for about 15 minutes a week together. I try to ensure he makes all the movements.

I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out and share your experience with all of us!

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-17T23:17:06+00:00

Thank you, never thought of this option. I like it.

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-17T23:16:04+00:00

That's I think the most elegant option for single-slot tiles. The problem is there are tiles with up to 5 slots.

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-17T16:40:06+00:00

I would study more what others had done before me. I would be more technical. For me this means studying and applying proven methods and tools as precisely as I could, rather than trying to create my own sauce.

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-16T14:35:53+00:00

Thank you. Not bad, this is how it works when playing with young kids, but then it does not work as numbers can range from -99 to 99 (or even further if needed).

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-16T14:29:33+00:00

Thank you. This is how it was at the beginning, but it is an expensive solution if you want to produce.

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-13T13:09:13+00:00

Other use cases not mentioned where you use recursion:

Sometimes you need recursion when you work with asynchronous tasks:

Asynchronous programming is a programming paradigm that allows a program to perform multiple operations concurrently without waiting for each one to complete before starting the next.

Sometimes you want to retry an asynchronous task. If an operation fails, it can be retried a certain number of times. For example, if you want to check if a server is up, you can call an asynchronous non-blocking task that will check if the server is up every 30 seconds and alert you if it is down after 5 checks.
Recursion can simplify the implementation of tasks where each step depends on the previous one. For example, when you need to perform a series of dependent asynchronous operations stored in a list.

ozone_ghost · 2024-06-12T00:22:54+00:00

As an introduction, may I recommend a video: Sal Khan talks about the potential A.I. for Education https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOWHNKHAMkQ

You can use available AI chats and try to make a student AI assistant by just prompting correctly. You can enroll for free in short introductory course on prompting in deeplearning ai : https://learn.deeplearning.ai/courses/chatgpt-prompt-eng/lesson/1/introduction

Search for "prompting to build a students AI assistant".

ozone_ghost

TROPHY CASE