
Learnable Programming in Thailand - Uehreka
http://www.chrisuehlinger.com/blog/2014/02/26/learnable-programming-in-thailand/
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boofboof
Just want to give you a kudos!

First off, I grew up in Malaysia (next door neighbor to Thailand). My first
time learning programming from a teacher/lecturer was rather horrid (I wish I
had someone like you in my class). I have seen most of the challenges were due
to the difficulty in visualizing how the codes transform to the end product.

I found Alice to be quite useful to introduce basic (types/conditional) to the
first time programmer, but as soon as we transition from Alice to JAVA, many
still struggled (dropout rate shot up).

If we can have a real time JAVA/C or any complied language, real time IDE.
Student may not need to suffer from the pain of transitioning.

~~~
Uehreka
Thanks a bunch! The "transitioning" problem is a real bummer right now, but
I'm optimistic that we'll see a lot of things start to change in the next few
years as some of the newer IDE projects become more mature.

Regarding IDEs: I agree that we need better tools for Java and C. I think the
key to solving this problem is making IDEs that developers can easily extend
to meet their own visualizing needs. This is why I'm really excited about the
Light Table project: It may not have a ton of features right now, but it gives
you the ability to write powerful plugins to cover use cases the IDE developer
hadn't thought of.

~~~
buovjaga
At least one person is working on a C/C++ plugin for LT:
[https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/light-
tab...](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/light-table-
discussion/IZWv-84NU6g)

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technomancy
These kinds of reports are always interesting to me since I have kids, and I'm
trying to think ahead to where to go once they outgrow Scratch. Reading about
the gap between the engaging visual curriculum and then dropping down to C for
"real coding" makes me a bit worried that something similar will happen with
my kids.

In order to avoid that I'm investigating Racket--it's powerful enough that you
won't outgrow it like you would with traditional learning languages like
BASIC; in fact it's much more powerful than most mainstream languages. But
it's still got fantastic support for visualizations and programming with
images as values, so I feel like it'd be a good choice for a next step where
you wouldn't have to compromise between "serious" and "engaging". The main
drawback is that while the htdp.org curriculum is pretty solid for a textbook,
it's definitely not as engaging as some of the interactive curriculums like
[http://learn.code.org](http://learn.code.org) or the one shown here. But the
potential there is huge.

~~~
Uehreka
I think what's most important is that kids get something rewarding out of
their work. If they can use their coding skills to make something cool that
they want to show people, it will keep them motivated. I think the biggest
problem with most curricula is that they have students writing to the console
for the first year. The kids are doing "real coding", but the results aren't
things that they consider "real programs" (like Microsoft Word, or Flappy
Bird).

In the long term, we need to change the way we do programming everywhere, not
just how we teach it. In the short term, I think students who can grasp the
basics, find programming fun and understand _why_ we use the console won't be
held back by it.

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contingencies
I spent part of last year based in Thailand and attended a few technically
oriented meetups. Honestly, the quality of knowledge there did seem very low.
It's good to see some good teaching going on.

A few years ago I donated a crap-ton of machines to a poor school in a remote
part of China in conjunction with a private American NGO. I am going to visit
another school with them next week and will see whether there might be scope
for something similar there.

Of course, I have no idea once they have a room full of machines whether they
can do much with them .. and I suspect they are probably used for games and
web access exclusively. Something like you are suggesting sounds like a great
use of these kinds of resources.

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macarthy12
Chris, you coming up to Chiang Mai before you leave thailand ? Would you like
to come up to CNX and give a talk on your experiences and tools?

~~~
Uehreka
Just saw your comment, I'm actually going to Chiang Mai in about a week! Send
me an email (chris dot uehlinger ที่ gmail dot com) and we can figure
something out.

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muyuu
Awesome stuff. For a sec I thought it was Chris Granger of Light Table fame.

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marincounty
The whole world will learn to program--great! But the cost to live in America
just rises, and programmer/coder wages will dwindle? It really bothers me when
companies that can afford to hire American programmers still go overseas. I
keep a mental list, and yes--I don't use anything from MS unless it's free--
and it better have a low learning curve. So a big FY to the cheap outsoursers.

~~~
evolve2k
Ok I'll take the bait. Americans have no greater 'right' to code than anyone
else. Your argument although heartfelt stinks of privilege.

If the whole world is coding and though that is altering jobs as we know them
currently and freeing up lots of people resources, we have a very different
much more encompassing problem and opportunity.

Allocate your thinking and concerns there.

