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Advice needed, son wants to learn how to program (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by foofiepie@lemmy.world to c/programming@programming.dev

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Hi all,

My 8 year old is asking if he can learn how to program. He has asked specifically if I could set him up with a ‘programming kit with lessons’ for a Christmas present. I’d like to support this, and it seems like it’s not a transient interest as he’s been all over scratch, and using things like minecraft commands for the last year. I have an old (pre 2017) MacBook Air I can set up for this. How do I / what would you advise I set up for him, to a) keep him safe online (he’s 8!) and b) give him the tools he needs in a structured way.

I am not a programmer. I know enough bash/shell and basic unix stuff to be dangerous and I was a front end dev a very long time ago, but I wouldn’t call myself a programmer and don’t know what concepts he needs to learn first.

Hugely appreciate any advice, thanks.

Edit: So I posted this then had a busy family day and came back to so many comments! I will methodically go through these all, thanks so much.

A couple of things on resources: he has expressed interest in 3D worlds and I noticed comments on engines, but wonder if that’s too advanced?

Totally agree with the short feedback loop rather than projects that take days.

He has an iPad 6 and I’m happy to pop a Linux distro on the Air, so certainly open to that.

So many links to research. Hugely grateful.

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[–] Alxrg@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

+1 for Linux but use your MacBook Air. There are Educational Linux versions that would be a great environment for your kid to learn to code. It can also be set up with kid safeguards.

You can also run Linux from a Usb if you’d rather not install it over MacOS

I recently put Linux (Mint) on my old 2015 MacBook Air and it’s been really great.

[–] svetlyak40wt@fosstodon.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Alxrg @fmstrat oh, I've installed Ubuntu on Macbook but had many troubles with the keyboard.

Probably some of these problems are originated from the StumpWM – a tiling window manager written in #commonlisp

Not all problems are solved yet. For example, a key near the left shift should produce ` and ~, but it outputs < and > instead. I don't know how to remap it.

[–] Alxrg@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

For OP’s question (just to stay on topic before we veer off), would you still recommend a Linux distribution on their MacBook Air?

Edubuntu seemed like a good choice to reuse their existing hardware and have a safe environment. There’s lots more choices to choose from

I’m only casually using my Linux MacBook but haven’t had any troubles with the keyboard.

Although a nice tiling window manager sounds like fun. I’ll have to look into it.