I miss this in LISP. It might force me to better structure my programs so that a lot of this is dealt with in an up-front manner or simply can’t occur. I do it all the time in JS though and love it.
I agree with you. I probably wouldn’t invest much time learning patterns for solving higher level problems in an imperative way, but spending some time with a breadboard, then some circuit emulators, then machine code -> assembly -> systems programming will definitely give kids (a bit older than the target for this tool perhaps?) an important basis in the underlying physical reality of their programs.
I personally wouldn’t teach children mutable imperative programming. I think functional, data driven, declarative, “data first” programming would be a better introduction to the subject. We’ve essentially broken our own brains training ourselves to think the imperative/mutable style is normal
I find that my social skills come and go with practice. If I spend long days or weeks programming then the skills get rusty and I find it difficult to interact with people. Maybe trying getting out there and spending time with people (at a sports club/meet up/board games, whatever you enjoy). Read some novels (there was a study that suggested humans learn social skills from reading about human interactions in books). I'm not suggesting you're not sociable already, just that forming a connection might be easier if you feel confident socialising generally. Connections with others are based on honesty, so make sure you're yourself. Also...remember to love yourself! Good luck :)