
Ask HN: What programming language do I teach my 7 year old son? - sergiotapia
My son is 7 and I think it&#x27;s time to teach him how to write some software.<p>What language do I pick though?<p>Go? Precise, fast, C-like.<p>Ruby? Easy to read, fun, will hamper his future learning of other languages?<p>Javascript? Ubiquitous, yet terrible?<p>Elixir? Fun for the both of us, but maybe too hard for him? Will soil him into functional style programming from here on out?<p>---<p>What do you guys recommend? Any parents here have experience teaching their children how to write code?
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angersock
C or Scratch.

Or, you know, encourage them to go outside and be physically active and
interact with human beings.

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maxaf
Start with [https://scratch.mit.edu/](https://scratch.mit.edu/), which is both
simple enough for a kid to grasp, relatable enough due to the whole
game/interactive graphics angle, and "real" enough to teach some general
programming concepts, such as control flow and variables.

If Scratch instruction bears fruit, consider continuing with Python or Ruby.
The main thing is not to overthink this. Proficiency in _any_ language will
do.

Yes, I'm bothered that my 8yo daughter is picking up Python. Oh, the horror!
There are no types. Yet I'd rather have her coding _something_ as opposed to
taking forever to enter the perfectly sensible realm of functional
programming.

Remember: learning via counterexamples is also learning.

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informatimago
Scheme! "The Little Schemer"

