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Comment by z131 | Hacker News Reader

I'm appalled that some of the first languages you intend to teach are Javascript (But really JQuery) and Python. That's just my personal opinion, but when I think "Teaching kids to code" I don't think "pick languages unlike any other language, and that will teach bad expectations of future languages." I would even be happy if you were to teach them something like VB over Javascript and Python.

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What's so appalling about JS and Python? They're both fairly similar to other high-level languages of today, and I don't see how they "will teach bad expectations of future languages." I love Python and use it nearly every day (JS not so much, but that's mainly because of what I do).

JavaScript is perhaps the most broadly and immediately useful language right now, whether or not it should be, and Python is probably the best balance of utility on its own, usefulness for learning concepts applicable to other languages, and accessibility of any language today.

VB is more distant from other languages than Python, more limited in its direct utility, and less useful for teaching general CS concepts.

Python and JS may not be the perfect set of choices, but they are good set, and certainly either is far better than VB.

Totally disagree. These languages were chosen wisely. They allow you to get stuff done quickly without complaining too much. Kids who want to build stuff for the browser should learn Javascript.

Also, Processing in particular is a very smart option. I know that when I was learning to code, being able to draw cool patterns and stuff on the screen was really motivating.

What's the problem with Python? It's no more complicated than VB and was designed as a teaching language. The significant whitespace may be annoying, but it's semantically identical to other ways of specifying blocks.

Javascript for teaching programming to children is an awful idea, though.

JavaScript is an excellent language to get children to learn to code, because it runs in a web-browser, an environment children are very familiar with.

Javascript is an awful language to get children to learn to code because it doesn't understand numbers and pretends to be object-oriented when it's prototypical - which puts it by itself in the world of popular languages.

That it naturally runs in a browser is an awful reason to use it. Use something that compiles to javascript if you feel web programming is so important.

VB?! Modern languages that are simple (like JS, Python) make more sense to me.

VB is a bit old and outdated at this point, I think.

(btw, my handle is not related to this site)

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