
App Uses Kids’ Obsession with Phones to Teach Them Coding - x43b
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/app-uses-kids-obsession-with-phones-to-teach-them-coding/
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logn
I'm at least convinced that unless we make phones and iPads into good
programming machines, the next generation of programmers will suffer. I know
in my own extended family, children are no longer given access to full
computers and qwerty keyboards. Their parents will install all sorts of apps
on their devices for children, from games to flashcards to entertainment, but
it never occurs to them to install something related to programming. If this
app can solve that it's a win. But really something like the app JavaScript
Anywhere is good enough, except that the iPad onscreen keyboard is
particularly unfriendly for programmers (curly braces take 3 clicks to type).

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meric
I have been thinking about a new input paradigm, where people can use only
their thumb to program. Hold the screen with thumb, a wheel comes up with a
circle of options, guessed based on (Markov chain?) a list of symbols most
likely to be entered next. The language needs to work with that paradigm well
and also it appears tricky to implement so I'm far from working on it...

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empressplay
I welcome anything that encourages computer science skills in children but
this is stretching it just a bit. You'd probably learn more about cause-and-
effect by playing a game of SimCity.

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austenallred
Kids aren't obsessed with "their phones." They're obsessed with the stuff
their phones let them do.

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tolmark12
I would disagree, I work with kids aged 8-14, and a new shiny phone is an
object of fascination and status. They're enamored with the object itself and
the interaction therewith. Of course at some point (like all new shiny) it
become more about what you do with the phone, but initially that is a
secondary attribute.

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mwfogleman
I learned to code largely because of my interest in Linux and Emacs.
Connecting to a sense of pleasure, fun, and interest is critical to successful
learning in any domain- I've found this to be true in exercise and meditation,
too :)

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userbinator
When these kids want to do something more than what the app allows, they'll
find out just how locked-down smartphones are as a platform. They could be
content with staying inside the walled garden, but maybe they'll want to get
out and do more - perhaps even advocate for more open systems in the future
when they grow up. I very much hope it is the latter, although it is hard to
see beyond the platform if that's the only form of computing they've been
exposed to.

