
4 and 8 year old sisters impress judges in programming contest - pclark
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_405695.html
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mahmud
_Armed with just the basics in the Squeak programming language_

Yes! \o/

Even more surprising than kids able to hack, are adults in school technology
ACTUALLY able to push through real hacking tools, instead of the industry-prep
crap often "donated" by big IT.

These children are loved.

~~~
MaysonL
Indeed - God, do I wish I had had Squeak to play with when I was 4 years old.
I wish that more kids were exposed to such tools at an early age.

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ErrantX
> beating 68 other contestants, mostly 11 and 12 year olds.

Not quite the same wow factor as beating, say, 25 year olds :) Title is a
little misleading in that respect.

~~~
clistctrl
I was impressed when my five year old could multiply large numbers in his
head. I think the difference between a 4 and an 11 || 12 year old is quite
significant.

~~~
ErrantX
The sister is eight though. My cousins are 9 and 5 and they work together well
- probably to the standard of a 10 yr old or more.

I doubt the gap is that massive (and more in "maturity" than intellectual)

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euroclydon
Which programming languages and tech stacks would be the least difficult for
my young sons to start programming with? I want them to be able to do
something graphical, 2D or 3D with motion.

~~~
yumraj
My son just turned 4, so I'm in a similar boat. My current thoughts are to use
something like Lego Mindstorm NXT. This way he will be able to program
graphically which will teach him logic and the robot will show the result of
what he did, instant gratification. A much more playful environment for a 4
year old than see some script/compiler/IDE stuff.

Any Thoughts??

~~~
eru
Sounds like good idea.

If you have to go with software only for some reason, Squeak should be nice.
Also VPython (<http://vpython.org/>) allows one to animate 3D-scenes easily.
PyGame (<http://www.pygame.org/news.html>) might also be worth a look, however
it is slightly more difficult to get started (the level of abstraction seems
to be a bit lower, as you handle sprites yourself).

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cesare
[Edited to add more substance. Was: Constructivism FTW! :-)]

Isn't this another proof of the success of constructivist learning?

Learning by doing using tools specifically designed to encourage this
approach?

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biohacker42
_as well as encouragement - but no help - from mum and dad_

?...

~~~
sunir
It can happen. In 1983, I was 4 and I learnt how to program on a VIC 20 my Dad
bought on a whim at a garage sale for $20. My sister was either 8 or 9 at the
time, and she taught me the basics of, well, BASIC. I was motivated because
she taunted me with the prototypical:

    
    
      10 PRINT "NINA IS COOL"
      20 GOTO 10
    

My parents had no idea how to use the computer but they thought it was a good
thing for us to learn.

~~~
biohacker42
I can't even remember a damn thing from when I was 4. And I'm pretty sure at 4
I wasn't drinking any booze, but then again I can't be 100% sure...

~~~
extension
Reading this, I just realized that my earliest code does in fact predate my
earliest memories, a peculiar thought. I remember not being able to tie my
shoes, not knowing left from right and having to jump to turn on a light, but
I don't remember not being able to program.

