

Teaching functional programming to kids - batasrki
http://jackcoughonsoftware.blogspot.com/2009/05/teaching-functional-programming-to-kids.html

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Periodic
I think we programmers become so used to thinking about things abstractly that
we forget the metaphors we were using when we first learned to program. When I
write C I'm often thinking about how the operation changes memory locations
and registers, but I barely knew those when I started.

This topic is also very interesting to me because my wife has shown an
interest in programming which I'd like to nurture, but we have communication
problems because I regularly use terms she doesn't fully understand yet and it
is hard for me to put myself in the shoes of someone just starting out.

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jackchristopher
Might not be obviously relevant but this is good advice on a similar problem:
[http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/wiki/Singularity_Writing_A...](http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/wiki/Singularity_Writing_Advice)

Besides the problem you described (inferential distance), I find the other
problem in explaining or writing things is signaling social status
incongruently. Like sometimes my tone strays from friendly toward lecturely.

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jamongkad
This is great! although I do have a few comments. Looks like the OP has the
makings of a fun children's book on his hands. My only qualm though is the
Star Belly Sneetch Machine spits out Sneetches with star's on their bellies.

Probably a more functional idiom would be a Sneetch goes into the machine and
spits out a Sneetch with the a star on his belly, whilst the original Sneetch
is shuffled off somewhere or parts ways.

