

Ask HN: programming environment for a student who has outgrown toy environment? - snewman

My middle-school child has been learning to program for a couple of years now. He's worked his way up through Scratch (MIT's drag-and-drop sprite environment) and CodeHS (a minimal JavaScript editor coupled with a simple graphics toolkit and a good introductory curriculum). He's ready for something more substantial, but I'm not sure where to turn.<p>CodeHS is nice for beginners, but it lacks basic IDE functionality, and is fixed to a small (400 x 400) canvas. In decreasing order of importance, my criteria for his next tool:<p>1. Basic IDE functionality, such as autocomplete, static error checking, multiple files, and a debugger.<p>2. Allow creating both graphical applications (e.g. games) and simple console-type programs.<p>3. Support publishing games and other simple applications as a web page, so he can show his work to friends and family.<p>4. Runtime environment is simple and lightweight (e.g. don't have to learn a complex UI toolkit).<p>5. IDE is lightweight and easy to learn.<p>6. Live in the cloud, so he can work from any computer.<p>7. Use a mainstream language.<p>Any recommendations?
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anonymouse123
Maybe not 'lightweight', but I'll throw it out there: how about the MS Express
editions (all free)?

[http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/products/visual-
st...](http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/products/visual-studio-
express-products)

More details here: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/bb308754.aspx>
and <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/default.aspx>

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snewman
That's a possibility, but can you use it to build programs that can be posted
on a web page? I really wish there was something that felt like writing C# in
Visual Studio Express, but produced JavaScript apps.

(He has a Mac, so we'd more likely wind up with Eclipse... not as polished,
but similar idea.)

~~~
michaelmior
How about Aptana Studio? <http://www.aptana.com/>

~~~
snewman
Thanks -- I'll check it out.

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CyberFonic
You could consider Codea:
[http://twolivesleft.com/Codea](http://twolivesleft.com/Codea)

