My teenager asked me to teach him to program this summer, here's my plan
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Get quick results, make things they can show or send to friends. Something that is either entertaining or will benefit the people around them in some way is preferred.
Help them come up with a plan, something they want to see realized, and the cart will basically pull itself. The rest will follow.
Also, he thinks the command line is about the coolest thing he's ever seen and that's the main reason I'm starting there. He gets a lot of enjoyment from that.
Getting him a system76 linux laptop as his first computer for full immersion sake, but most of the rest of what I've laid out so far is intended to be "light touch" on each subject with just enough to show him how it all comes together.
The point about centering on the fun factor still stands. Looking at my own career, the greatest jumps in my development have always been made with projects I truly wanted to see made.
Usually those were hobby projects, but sometimes paid work as well, if a project is challenging in an interesting way, or just feels worthwhile for what it is.
Same for me, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to build until I knew what was possible. That’s kinda why I’m hoping to light touch everything to see where he gravitates
Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000.»
That problem, the first in Project Euler, really speaks to a few people. Not to many. Ask your teenager.