Learnable Programming

[iamVFX]

This is the first time when I read and agree with every single sentence.

worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming

[Letterbox]

Nice read

[Bullit]

Very good. Thanks for pointing it. He even talks about Lego, something that i fault ICE for not to being.

[Hirazi Blue]

It's a fascinating read... But personally I do not see the need for any beginner-friendly "programming environment". To once again "out" myself as an old man: I learned programming on my Sinclair ZX81, without anything even vaguely resembling a user-friendly programming environment, just a well-written manual. And in that specific wave of British home computing a whole lot of people learned to program under similarly dire circumstances. Those home computers were of the "they can do fun things, but you'll have to make them do it yourself" variety. Thát was their "programming environment".
In this I still have high hopes for initiatives like the Raspberry Pi, as this might enable the same DIY way of thinking and might push people into the "it's fun to program" mindset.

[origin]

Code: Select all

FOR I=1536 TO 1604:READ A:POKE I,A:
NEXT I
POKE 203,0:POKE 204,0:POKE 205,0
FOR I=1605 TO 1736:READ A:POKE I,A:
NEXT I
POKE 548,0:POKE 549,6
DATA 8,72,166,203,224,132,240,23,189,
69,6,141,0,210,169,234,141,1,210,165
,205,221,70,6,240,12,230,205

[nixx]

[...]I learned programming on my Sinclair ZX81, without anything even vaguely resembling a user-friendly programming environment, just a well-written manual.[...]

You just gained another point in my respect-o-meter, Hirazi
(Amstrad CPC was my initiation)

[Pooby]

Very good. Thanks for pointing it. He even talks about Lego, something that i fault ICE for not to being.

And that I liken it to.

Lego technical/ Mindstorms that is, whereas some might prefer something along the lines of Lego Star wars.

[Daniel Brassard]

Nice article iamVFX.

Thanks

Code: Select all

mov ax,B800
mov ds,ax
mov byte[0F9E],24
int 20

[luceric]

I love this article and the UI design experiments.. but I don't think I agree with the concept that the other way of learning programming is dumb and wrong. I think this is taking way too much time illustrating the basic stuff (loops, flow controls) you get past very quickly. And loops and interation.. well you just have to practice understanding it, it's not as simple as drawing it on screen. Today I only care about the the zero and N-1 state. I think the point of learning to program is totally about learning how to structure your thought in an abstract recipe. There is no point in learning programming if you don't want that, do something else instead; programming isn't necessary. For me, it's not a way to learn to other things.

Also, LOGO, which I have used, was a state machine as well, with "move mouse", "set pen color", stuff like that. it's no better than what Process appears to be. I think the article ends up being full of contradictions and ends up being about personal preference than something being actually better than something else. Which is what always happens when people talk about languages.
Personally I learned to program on the less cool TRS-80 Coco, the dark gray one. I was aware of the Sinclair, but I don't think I saw one in person, but it's kind of always been around in our head as something cool. 99$ I think?

[Daniel Brassard]

I Luceric,

I'll see if I still have what I used to learn my first program on.

It was made by IBM but I am not sure of the name anymore (I though Cardiac, but it sound more what you get after a while).

If i still have it, i'll post a scan!

[Hirazi Blue]

I was aware of the Sinclair, but I don't think I saw one in person

This might have something to do with the fact that Sinclair did a deal with the Timex Corporation to create an official clone named the "Timex Sinclair 1000" (mainly with a NTSC, not a PAL video output) specifically for the North-American market, which diluted its brand recognition.

To add something to my earlier statement: I don't believe learning to program should necessarily be such an austere experience as typing away on a membrane keyboard, but I do believe no amount of fancy programming environments will help much, if we can't turn people back onto the idea that "programming is fun". Such environments might help people believe programming is easy, not necessarily that it's fun. And programming often is hard work, but at the core it should be perceived as something that is "fun". And there, in my experience, the DIY experience does help...

[luceric]

yes, I knew it as the Timex Sinclair 1000, the first 100$ computer! I was 11 when it launched...

[Falam]

I was aware of the Sinclair, but I don't think I saw one in person

This might have something to do with the fact that Sinclair did a deal with the Timex Corporation to create an official clone named the "Timex Sinclair 1000" (mainly with a NTSC, not a PAL video output) specifically for the North-American market, which diluted its brand recognition.

To add something to my earlier statement: I don't believe learning to program should necessarily be such an austere experience as typing away on a membrane keyboard, but I do believe no amount of fancy programming environments will help much, if we can't turn people back onto the idea that "programming is fun". Such environments might help people believe programming is easy, not necessarily that it's fun. And programming often is hard work, but at the core it should be perceived as something that is "fun". And there, in my experience, the DIY experience does help...

I never did programming, I mostly worked with clay, pencil and the odd time paper mache. I've slowly, delved into programming, and, well ICE, which is math. Most of you in Europe learned differently then in North America. I know there are some who did learn this stuff in North America, the people I came across, found Matrices and Vectors to make their head explode and didn't spend much time with it, even in school. ICE has made things a little easier, and there is one person who comes to mind is Paul Smith, who seems to self-taught himself, and very well, he probably had to spend most of his time in ICE, maybe more then some of us can, he did learn it. If you know it, that is good, that just means that you sure help those who hard having a hard time learning, although this is not usually the case.