Comment by billziss | Hacker News Reader

Comment by billziss | Hacker News Reader

I had a similar problem a few years ago. While I never found the perfect machine here is how I have been introducing my now 10 year old son to the world of computers:

- I bought him a Kano computer kit when he was about 7. The kit retailed for about $250 at the time and a kid could assemble it "like LEGO". It came with educational software that introduced him to programming languages, etc. (Unfortunately I do not think they make this kit anymore.) Verdict: MINOR SUCCESS.

- I tried to introduce him to Python (around 7.5) by following an online book about game programming. He did not show much interest. Verdict: FAILURE.

- I introduced him to MakeCode (arcade.makecode.com) around 8. He got absolutely hooked and it is still his favorite platform today. I bought him some cheap hardware (Meowbit) to put his programs on and he loves showing off his games to his friends and everyone else. Verdict: MAJOR SUCCESS.

- I introduced him to Godot when he was 9. He showed strong interest, built a few games in it and even understood enough of the Python like language that Godot has. He used this series of YouTube videos to learn about Godot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvPTSZl2WCc. Verdict: MEDIUM SUCCESS.

- We are currently building Ben Eater's 8-bit computer (eater.net/8bit) and he absolutely loves it. He is able to follow along with the videos and understand the material at a good level. He has named the computer "Terry". This project does require a lot of my own time. Verdict: MAJOR SUCCESS.

We have also tried other projects (e.g. Raspberry-pi with Raspbian, Arduino, Robotics kits, etc.) although nothing that he showed major interest at the time. I think you have to try with different things to see what will capture your child's imagination.

When I was around your son's age, my parents introduced me to computers by getting me a LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 2.0 set for Christmas in 2001. My favorite thing in the world was the Exploration Mars expansion.

The "hacker" community around Mindstorms was huge in the 00's. After the RCX was reverse engineered, all sorts of language support appeared. BrickOS for C and C++, lejos for Java, NQC, etc. I bumped into lejos in a section on Mindstorms toolchain options for Macintosh in one of my dad's MacWorld magazines. He helped me set it up and that's where I started learning Java.

It was a life altering gift for me if there ever was one. The first large event that set me on my current path.

I honestly kind of miss the silly hacker/spy/matrix-y aesthetic of computing in the early 00's. It was fun when I realized those LEGO Spybotics kits could be targeted by some of the Mindstorms tools. Everyone in elementary school thought I was going to be an evil genius. Now I build storage virtualization systems. Oh well I guess.

I remember being a kid, and really wanting one of those for xmas - I think it was the first versions they had made of them. Unfortunately it was too expensive, but man did it look exciting, and the idea of having your own robots was so cooooool.

Oh well, years later I got access to computers and ended up doing programming, but now that I could afford one, I cannot find them anymore :(

I got it as a kid but after diving into it I lost interest once I got everything working. I guess for me assembling things and getting them to work was always the most interesting part, after that I moved on to something else. Today I'm a DevOps Engineer :D

The parts should still be somewhere in my father's basement but getting them would take time. I found a new Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 1.5 on eBay (auction number 324365658011) if that is the one you are looking for.

I do miss the heyday of LEGO Mindstorms. Everything seems to have moved to low-cost limited use sets you can get on Amazon. Lowering the bar of access is a good thing, but I do miss the feeling of having a big tub of LEGOs you could build anything you want from.

I guess the cool kids learn CAD and just 3D print the parts they want, which is also awesome (I wonder if there is any research in recycling failed designs or prints back into filament)

I certainly do that with PCBs these days. The cost went down so far I just throw a design together in kicad and have them made for me and shipped over in a week or two. It's only a few bucks more than ordering protoboards and doing all of the wiring myself. I'll exchange a lunch out for that convenience.

Thanks for reminding me of the more "individual challenge" aesthetics of early coding. But I have to ask - you say, "oh well," like that's not something cool. I would have no idea where to even start with a storage virtualization system.

Maybe it's not evil genius, but it sure sounds cool.

I was in middle school around that same time, my parents got me the educational equivalent of Mindstorms (with RCX 1.0). We didn't have a PC and the educational edition came with a alternative LabView-based UI that ran on classic Mac OS. I remember seeing that article in Macworld and wanting to learn some of the other languages, but I never had much success. I can't say it was totally life altering, I was already headed down the path of an engineering career.

My college was still using the official Mindstorms sets for their intro to engineering classes, and so I recall finally getting my hands on the official Mindstorms software and finding it lacking. A classmate was using NQC to do it all, and his team let him do the programming. My team wasn't a fan of that approach so I stuck to the hardware.

> alternative LabView-based UI that ran on classic Mac OS

Was that Robolab? I remember running that on an G4 PowerMac.

I always thought that the "Robotics Invention System" sets were the consumer oriented ones and the educational ones were a separate product line distributed by a company called Pitsco if I'm recalling correctly. Came in a green tub.

+1 for Ben Eater's 8-bit computer, the videos are very well put together and easy to understand. It's even a bit addicting to watch them because you always want to get to the next step. I binged it in a matter of 3 days. His 6502 is also very good, I wonder if that can be a good computing platform OP is talking about.

Godot is a dead end. I tried it and found it very difficult to grok and then immediately ran into their hacked to hell threading model that you must know about (and sprinkle yields around in just the right spots) to get anything done.

I see it being revised significantly which will be a breaking change. If not, then it is what it is.

> Godot is a dead end.

c'mon, there have been millions of human hours played on games developed on engines or systems with not even 1/1000th of what Godot is able to achieve.

I introduced my daughter to ScratchJr when she was 5 and Scratch when she was 7.

I taught her class Scratch. It does make a big difference which language you start with. I think how much you are involved with your child’s learning make also is a big part of the success.

I introduced her to MakeCode at 8 and we used the microbit to build a robot with legos and servos.

This project was such a hit that her principal asked me to teach it to the middle school kids.

Is scratchjr only available on ios/android? Not on pc/mac?

This is me-in-5-years I hope. You're a good parent.

Do you think any of these would work for a 3-year-old?

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