Okay here we go; where do I start

I learned Pascal and C in HS; but it was in a classroom setting. I even started out as a comp sci major at A&M and got through some Java but alas I moved on to another major to finish out my bachelors...

Anyhow; where do I start with a 12 year old who is interested? I see there's some junior coding websites that teach very basic fundamentals of coding logic but do these mature into actually writing code and compiling into programs?

They seem "too childish" to me.

Good starting languages are Python (because it's easy to use) and JavaScript (if she wants to go the route of making a personal webpage and enhancing it).

Or, for the type of kid who gets bored in math class, the TI-8x graphing calculators have a built-in "Basic" language that can be used to program games.

Thanks, I've leaned into Python with her and got the free trial of codemonkey to start her off....

I do recall making my own basic games and a "Screensaver" in Basic on the TI; in fact it was when she was doing her math homework, and using a basic calculator and I said "hey when you get to algebra in a couple of months, I have a TI-83 graphing calculator" at work I can let her use. Then proceeded to brag that I used to write my own games on it in high school..... she was fascinated by the coding part and that's what kicked this off...

I went through these two programs:

https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/
https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/

I enjoyed them a lot, and the instructor makes the concepts very easy to understand and follow. There's also a ton of resources out there that will walk you through the projects in both of those courses if you get stuck, as well.

Neither are hand holding courses. She will most likely get stuck at some point. That might be a bad thing for some people, but they get you into the habit of learning how to find the answer and work through a problem by googling and learning new concepts.

I'm not a programmer, but I have to write scripts a lot for my job and both helped me out tremendously.

Edit: forgot to add that both are free unless you want a pretty certificate at the end.

SpreadsheetAg said:

---

Thanks, I've leaned into Python with her and got the free trial of codemonkey to start her off....

I do recall making my own basic games and a "Screensaver" in Basic on the TI; in fact it was when she was doing her math homework, and using a basic calculator and I said "hey when you get to algebra in a couple of months, I have a TI-83 graphing calculator" at work I can let her use. Then proceeded to brag that I used to write my own games on it in high school..... she was fascinated by the coding part and that's what kicked this off...

---

I agree on Python, it's a nice way to start and will run anywhere. Maybe dig into what she might want to code at a very high level. Does she want to play around with web apps, maybe also wrap it into building a standalone web server on Docker on an old machine in the house (lots of Youtube videos to follow), or more of building mobile apps or standalone apps? Probably just see if there is an area that really sounds like a lot of fun (even if it's extremely small, just like scanning for files, or finding things on the internet, or renaming something through automation) and then building off of that with a language that will fit.

I remember back in the 90s that I wanted to "build programs" but I had no clue what that actually meant (especially in the 90s), it would have been nice to kind of conceptualize what I liked about it. So I always give this advice for kids starting on the journey.

The two Harvard classes are a must imo. Personally I would start with Python since it is a more straight forward language but will still force you to learn how to structure things correctly. Once you have the syntax down moving to other languages is not as hard as when you first start.

The main thing is to stay with one language and not bounce around at first. You will be overwhelmed and confuse yourself. Use tutorials as that, but also work to build your own code off of it so you are forcing yourself to write. Use AI to help check your code and when it finds errors ask it to explain why it was wrong and give you advice on fixing it. Don't be afraid to fail and write code that breaks. It happens.

Choose our IDE and not only write in it, but learn how to use to help you. IntelliJ and Cursor are both good and have free editions. Even the paid are not that much monthly.

I have used these and enjoy their teaching styles. Coursera also has a lot of great classes that you can work with on a simple monthly sub.

Bro Code Youtube Channel
Code With Mosh

SpreadsheetAg said:

---

Thanks, I've leaned into Python with her and got the free trial of codemonkey to start her off....

I do recall making my own basic games and a "Screensaver" in Basic on the TI; in fact it was when she was doing her math homework, and using a basic calculator and I said "hey when you get to algebra in a couple of months, I have a TI-83 graphing calculator" at work I can let her use. Then proceeded to brag that I used to write my own games on it in high school..... she was fascinated by the coding part and that's what kicked this off...

---

I'm still in ticalc.org's top 100 most downloaded authors of all time, despite not having uploaded anything in years.

Nice! haha

SpreadsheetAg said:

---

Okay here we go; where do I start

I learned Pascal and C in HS; but it was in a classroom setting. I even started out as a comp sci major at A&M and got through some Java but alas I moved on to another major to finish out my bachelors...

Anyhow; where do I start with a 12 year old who is interested? I see there's some junior coding websites that teach very basic fundamentals of coding logic but do these mature into actually writing code and compiling into programs?

They seem "too childish" to me.

---

Start off with fun projects like coding her own robot. Very easy to learn from the guided tutorials and you get a cool remote controlled robot.

https://a.co/d/6aJ3lLN
https://a.co/d/eA1GJIT
https://a.co/d/hTL3uGl