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Thursday, September 14, 2006 12:00 AM

Why Johnny can't code

BASIC used to be on every computer a child touched -- but today there's no easy way for kids to get hooked on programming.
By David Brin

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  • Thursday, September 14, 2006 04:57 PM

    Why not Javascript

    It seems to me I read an article about a year ago on the topic of using Javascript as a basic pedagogical tool. Much better than basic. Structured. Go a bit further, and object-oriented. You don't have to start out with objects.

    The environment is the browser. You can write programs in an editor. Use Vi if you want (it's downloadable). Then, call it up using file://blah-blah.jsp or whatever the extension is.

    So, simple line programming is NOT lost.

    And Please, PLEASE, don't screw up the kid's brain with Basic. Nostalgia is no way to choose your tools.

    j

    —John H Elkins

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