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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 06:50 AM

    HTML is the new BASIC

    HTML is the new BASIC. Any computer with a notepad and a browser can use it. And HTML, unlike BASIC, is a gateway device. Kids who start to learn HTML want to go on to learn how to use sql and perl coding in ordre to make their pages work better. BASIC, while it seemed to be a wonderful thing back when we were kids, actually taught us little about how programs should be written.

    —Cigr

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