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~kurt wrote:

> Still, some experience in programming might be good to see if she is
> interested in computer science or engineering. They will still need
> people to continue to develop the science behind software.

It'll probably be good no matter what, it's almost certain she'll end up
working with computers whatever her career and the ability to do more than
just point and click should help in whatever task she does.

Blumf

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On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 02:16:13 +0000, Mykil X wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Was curious if you had any good links or ideas for my 8 year old daughter
> to do on her Slack box. As of now all she does is play a few games and
> browses Disney.com and a few other kids sites. Looking for something fun
> for her to do.

Assuming you are indeed looking for a "beginner's" programming language -
there is a version of Comal (Common Algorithmic Language) available for
linux. Last time I checked it was a text-only version, lacking any
graphics packages, but that's probably easier to master anyway. My
daughter (several years ago) wrote a 'Mastermind' game using text only
Comal on the Commodore 64 for her science fair project. At one time, Comal
was used as a beginning programming language by most of the European
school systems. There were versions for C64, Apple, CP/M, IBM/PC, BBC
ACorn, and some others. It is a language reminiscent of Basic, but without
most of Basic's shorcomings. It supports named procedures, true subroutine
calls, etc. - a great first language for anyone. You should be able to
find the linux version with a simple web search. It is fairly small and
easy to install. I think it has real time syntax checking, which prevents
entering a syntactically incorrect line of code, I know previous versions
supported that.

Pascal was designed to be a tool for teaching programming, although
Nicolas Wirth, it's creator, had no idea anyone would ever actually
implement it. Pascal has big shortcomings, most of which were solved with
Modula-2. You should be able to find a Modula-2, although I can't really
point you there - that would be an excellent choice as well.

Other than that, a 'modern' version of Basic might not be too bad. I've
not really tried any recently.

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 15:20:46 +0000, Blumf wrote:

> ~kurt wrote:
>
>> Still, some experience in programming might be good to see if she is
>> interested in computer science or engineering. They will still need
>> people to continue to develop the science behind software.
>
> It'll probably be good no matter what, it's almost certain she'll end up
> working with computers whatever her career and the ability to do more than
> just point and click should help in whatever task she does.
>
> Blumf

Exactly Blumf. I've worked with to many people that cannot even grasp the
concept of copy/paste let alone do something with the CLI. I figure if I
can get her interested in using a computer as a tool, and that she can
make it do anything she wants, her computing experience will be all the
more enjoyable. I figure it will also make some sysadmins job one person
easier in the future

Thank you for all the suggestions everyone!

~kurt wrote:

> Al. C <no.spam.acanton@adams-blake.no.spam.com> wrote:
>>
>> If she is going to learn programming, I suggest she also learn Hindi, or
>> perhaps Chinese so that she will be able to get a job in Asia later in
>> life.... because there won't be any work here in the USA for her, that's
>> for damn sure!
>
> Either that or the salaries for programmers are going to drop
> significantly
> over here. Which they probably should considering that most software
> development now days is just building GUIs and pulling data into and
> out of databases.
>
> Still, some experience in programming might be good to see if she is
> interested in computer science or engineering. They will still need
> people to continue to develop the science behind software.
>
> - Kurt
That's exactly the norm today
--
http://www.netlanta.net

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 02:16:13 +0000, Mykil X wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Was curious if you had any good links or ideas for my 8 year old daughter
> to do on her Slack box. As of now all she does is play a few games and
> browses Disney.com and a few other kids sites. Looking for something fun
> for her to do.

Well this isn't programing, but when my sons were young they spent a lot
of time with drawing programs. Sodipodi is pretty cool. Gimp is great,
but it may be a bit tough to learn. There are simpler paint programs
around. One of my sons likes to write illustrated stories.
OpenOffice should work for that and it also has a drawing editor.

Mike

+Alan Hicks+ finally wrote on Tuesday 07 December 2004 10:55 pm:

> In alt.os.linux.slackware, Mykil X dared to utter,
>> Was curious if you had any good links or ideas for my 8 year old daughter
>> to do on her Slack box. As of now all she does is play a few games and
>> browses Disney.com and a few other kids sites. Looking for something fun
>> for her to do.
>
> Kids' sites are great. There's homestarrunner.com (great for adults
> too!)

You know about Home Star Runner? This site may be one of my favorites. I
didn't think it was for children though (at least the ones < 13); I suppose
it could be. Even though it's more clean (which is nice), to me that's
like saying the Simpsons is for kids. But anyway, yeah, Strong Bad RULES!

'You're SlackSec packages are inferior and will be burninated! HA HA HA,
Trogdor strikes again!'

(note the above really is a joke; SlackSec is the only thing I could think
of to mess with you about )


-jab3

jab3 stupidly wrote on Wednesday 08 December 2004 02:08 pm:

> 'You're SlackSec packages are inferior and will be burninated! HA HA HA,
> Trogdor strikes again!'
>

whoops. I mean Your. Oh well. My fingers just do it that way .

Bartosz Oudekerk <bartosz@see_my_GnuPG-key.com> writes:
[when i was 10]
> I guess technology has advanced a bit since then.

you think? ;-)

--
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments

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In alt.os.linux.slackware, jab3 dared to utter,
> 'You're SlackSec packages are inferior and will be burninated! HA HA HA,
> Trogdor strikes again!'

/me lights his head on fire and and runs around as his thatched roof
cottages burn to the ground. :^)

- --
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
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Mykil X <freep@mail15.com> wrote:
>
> Exactly Blumf. I've worked with to many people that cannot even grasp the
> concept of copy/paste let alone do something with the CLI. I figure if I
> can get her interested in using a computer as a tool, and that she can
> make it do anything she wants, her computing experience will be all the
> more enjoyable. I figure it will also make some sysadmins job one person
> easier in the future

Speaking of sysadmin, start showing her around the guts of Slackware.

- Kurt