Programming

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Advice needed, son wants to learn how to program (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by foofiepie@lemmy.world to c/programming@programming.dev

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Hi all,

My 8 year old is asking if he can learn how to program. He has asked specifically if I could set him up with a ‘programming kit with lessons’ for a Christmas present. I’d like to support this, and it seems like it’s not a transient interest as he’s been all over scratch, and using things like minecraft commands for the last year. I have an old (pre 2017) MacBook Air I can set up for this. How do I / what would you advise I set up for him, to a) keep him safe online (he’s 8!) and b) give him the tools he needs in a structured way.

I am not a programmer. I know enough bash/shell and basic unix stuff to be dangerous and I was a front end dev a very long time ago, but I wouldn’t call myself a programmer and don’t know what concepts he needs to learn first.

Hugely appreciate any advice, thanks.

Edit: So I posted this then had a busy family day and came back to so many comments! I will methodically go through these all, thanks so much.

A couple of things on resources: he has expressed interest in 3D worlds and I noticed comments on engines, but wonder if that’s too advanced?

Totally agree with the short feedback loop rather than projects that take days.

He has an iPad 6 and I’m happy to pop a Linux distro on the Air, so certainly open to that.

So many links to research. Hugely grateful.

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[–] TheFogan@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago

IMO set him up with some of the modern engines and tutorials... Godot 4, Unreal etc...

actually if you are looking for some stuff to have ready for him.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/game-programming-with-c-unreal-packt-books?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_2_layout_type_threes_tile_index_1_c_gameprogrammingwithcunrealpackt_bookbundle

If he has access to youtube there's also lots of really good tutorials etc... out there. Heartbeast has some awesome ones for godot etc...