I just came here to say thank you for doing this team. When I wanted to teach my 5 year old how to type and do basic math, I did it in clojure using Repl.it
I may have biased it, but she found the experience more engaging than MIT Scratch (which is also very good).
When kids and newbies engage with a product so easily (think git before github), you suddenly vastly increase the userbase.
Thanks Danny! I think Scratch is probably the most impactful tool in getting more people into programming. We have nothing but respect for the team.
However, when we talk to some of the kids coming to Repl.it from Scratch they often say something along the lines of Scratch is an "adult's idea of what kids might like". I think some kids want to feel like hackers and like they're doing "the real thing."
To that end we're working on a framework that has similar semantics to Scratch but is actually Python: https://github.com/replit/play
BTW: a 5 year old learning Clojure is fascinating. I hope you write about that sometime.
> However, when we talk to some of the kids coming to Repl.it from Scratch they often say something along the lines of Scratch is an "adult's idea of what kids might like". I think some kids want to feel like hackers and like they're doing "the real thing."
I teach a low-impact, almost impossible to fail programming elective to HS students. We start with a fork of Scratch, and we eventually move to Python. The above is generally the response of my students as well. Scratch is a nice, gentle introduction, but then it becomes more tedious clicking through categories, dragging-and-dropping, and maintaining an organized environment with larger assignments. I'm inclined to agree. Also transferring concepts from Scratch to a terminal language doesn't click for most students. I'm still working on bettering my lesson plans in that aspect.
I do want to counter with something positive about these visual implementations though. I think boot strapping the course would be 10 times harder with just a terminal language.
>>>However, when we talk to some of the kids coming to Repl.it from Scratch they often say something along the lines of Scratch is an "adult's idea of what kids might like". I think some kids want to feel like hackers and like they're doing "the real thing."<<<
This is just one of the most impactful sentence I have ever heard, as I am trying to build a really simple flow programming interface.
Hey! Thanks for asking. I carry a Pixelbook around the house to read the news/answer emails and, although Linux is on it on, I just find it easier to browse to Repl.it.
Let's be clear that for a 5 year old, being able to substitute numbers in (+ 2 3) and seeing the results is displayed on the screen is pretty cool. And for my 3-year-old, just typing his name (after I tell him which keys to press) is magical.
The deontological argument is that there is a rule requiring vendors to accept cash, whereas there isn't a rule limiting the max price they can charge.
I, too, find it easier to apply consequentialism, but bureaucracies work well when they have clear rules.
Are you not convinced that Google Search, DDG, Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat are all "good" products in the eye of many people? As far as I can tell, all of those products are paid for by sponsors.
These platforms have been coasting on network effects alone for years. The "I'd quit but I have no other way to stay in touch with (friends/family/whoever)." / "but all my (whoever) are on it" justifications you constantly see from people are evidence to support that.
Answer: Yes, these people need jobs and there is a lot of money to be made legally drilling offshore oil wells off the coast of Guyana[1].
Consider coal, the poster child. Blaming the coal producing states[2] might feel good, but it's not very effective. Personally, I prefer to have a shared global responsibility mindset because I too consume goods that are made in China, where ~50% of the coal is burned. How do I sleep at night? Quite well because I'm often exhausted from startup life + BJJ + kids :-)
As a citizen in a democratic country, if you want to affect change, policy seems to be the way to go. As far as environmental problems go in the US, the boundary between federal and state is not well defined[3] and most recently the federal government seem content with letting the states take more of the burden. A few (humble) thought starters for US citizens would include:
A. Learn how much your state is burning[4] and what your governor is doing about it
B. Find out about organizations and lobbying groups that align with your ideals
C. Vote with your money[5], and vote in the election
"In general, we can say that Persian women enjoyed power, influence, and economic opportunities. They were involved in the military and owned businesses, and held the same jobs as men. Some women never married or had children, but this wasn't seen as a problem. However, Ancient Persian society was still patriarchal, and for the most part, men held higher positions than women.
One of the reasons that Ancient Persians held women in high regard might have been their religion. Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion, and its ideology stressed that men and women were equals. Naturally, this would shape the worldview of Ancient Persians, and we can say that overall women were seen as important figures in society."
Funny fun fact about Zoroastrianism: "British musician Freddie Mercury, lead singer for the rock band Queen, was of Parsi descent. Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, practiced Zoroastrianism."
It took me a few years (University?) to understand better the concepts of job creation (macroeconomics) and of zero-sum (game theory). I assume many readers (maybe even the author) of the article will not have an understanding of these notions either and therefore will not arrive at your conclusions.
Instead of "hating", maybe we could acknowledge the problem and try to come up with a solution? Not that I'm able to come up with a good one.
A bit off topic, but when I see adults who lack a certain concept, I take note of teaching my kids about that concept. For instance, I want to teach my kids the concept of "velocity of money" by adopting an internal currency (e.g., stuffed toys), where you can "spend" by asking a favor, and "earn" by doing a favor. Over time, my wife and I might also increase the pool of "money" whenever someone does something especially nice. No blockchain required ;-)
