Ask HN: A computer for children? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: A computer for children?

7 pointsduncan_bayne5 comments

I'm the proud parent of two children whom I'd like to introduce to computing at a young age.

The thing is I don't want them to be passive media consumers; they've had next to zero screen time so far (eldest is three, youngest has just turned one) and I'd like to keep it that way w.r.t. entertainment media (i.e. not the awful "four year old parked infront of YouTube for an entire day" model).

So I'd like to build them a rig that encourages experimentation and deep learning, and which can be extended later to include interesting projects like robotics. Ideally something close to a modern version of my own childhood experience, which was a microcomputer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC#CPC464 ) that when powered on quickly dropped into a (BASIC) REPL that gave instant feedback.

I was thinking of building a setup with the following:

- A decent mechanical keyboard. I currently use a Unicomp with an integrated trackball, and my three year old already enjoys 'typing' on that, and it's handily indestructible. http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB404LA

- A Raspberry Pi 2. I've used an original Raspberry Pi for a few projects now (most recently controlling a DSLR for time-lapse photography) and I love the thing. It's close to the old micros in spirit: plug in, power on, and it's running. http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-2-on-sale/

- An LCD monitor. I was thinking a matte-finish 24" or larger, high-res with HDMI. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

The real question surrounds software. After attending RubyConf and seeing a Sonic Pi ( http://sonic-pi.net/ ) demo I'm definitely keen on that, but otherwise I'd really appreciate some guidance. What software would people recommend to get children interested in computing, and also impart good skills?

Back in the olden days I'd have gone straight to LOGO and a turtle robot.

You can get Kano. Or just their OS and docs (it runs on RPi, should run on RPi2)

As for other "kids" friendly environments, you have + the MIT Scratch/ Blockly drag-and-drop visual coding environment (Kano has blockly and they build the interface with the RPi Minecraft (cf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTjN_1GFsfk ))

+ Python / Ruby / JS "for kids" books; HumbleBundle is currently having a book bundle that include a few "Programming Language" for kids book https://www.humblebundle.com/books ; you will find online a few other books (e.g. https://inventwithpython.com/ http://ruby4kids.com/ruby4kids ) based on doing games)

+ you can have the Sugar image (what's the OLPC is running) setup to run , http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Welcome_to_the_Sugar_Labs_wiki . It has a lot of nice apps, and it includes a nice Logo inspired Turtle environment (TurtleArt / TurtleBlocks)

If you decide to go into hardware as a way to get your kids started, then look at Arduino also (e.g. http://sylviashow.com/episodes/s1/e3/full/arduino ), or a simple robot controlled by your RPi.

I'm working on a project which you might find of use in a little while: http://codemancergame.com/

I used an older netbook with a wireless mouse. Super cheap, portable, and not powerful enough to be too big of distraction. Benefit of being "kid sized" and very sturdy. Mostly used it for old Sierra games and such.

Sometimes I wonder if finding an old Apple system with a turtle robot and a copy of LOGO might not be the best approach...

The classic systems were worlds ahead of most modern ones in one very important respect: documentation.

The Tandy/Radio Shack books for the Color Computer series (and it's astoundingly good LOGO implementation) were amazingly clear and concisely written with lots of examples, and because in those days even a disk drive wasn't a guarantee, all the examples were written to be hand-typed and experimented with.

There were even books in those days that aimed to teach kids machine language! [1]

That said, I think Djikstra and Felleisen may be slightly right about the long-term usefulness of old-fashioned BASIC and LOGO for learning, but there are a few books in modern languages that come close.

Hello World![2] was explicitly written to hearken back to those old manuals, by a father aiming to teach his 12-yo son programming with Python.

Land of Lisp[3] and Realm of Racket[4] also call to mind those old books as well, though they're targeting a bit older audience and have their quirks (LoL is a bit in-love with huge nested trees and a-lists in the examples, and Realm of Racket tends to gloss over a lot of the examples and expects you to just read the sample code rather than walking you through the process completely).

The Little Schemer[5] is also a fantastic little book that takes on the form almost of a set of brain-teasers, and teaches recursive thinking entirely by example and in methodical detail. The later chapters can be a bit stumpy, but if you go through the book step by step in regular sessions it builds on itself pretty well.

All of these are aiming at around the 12+ age range though, I don't think there's much out there anymore for anything younger.

[1] http://boingboing.net/2013/05/16/1983s-wonderful-introducti....

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Begin...

[3] http://www.amazon.com/Land-Lisp-Learn-Program-Game/dp/159327...

[4] http://www.amazon.com/Realm-Racket-Learn-Program-Game/dp/159...

[5] http://www.amazon.com/Little-Schemer-Daniel-P-Friedman/dp/02...

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