Need advice on teaching my 14 year old son. What direction for a kid?

[In2Deep]

My son is 14 years old and for weeks / months has been asking me to teach him c++. I personally have dabbled with it a few times but I am by no means qualified to teach it.

He is in the 9th grade and has struggled with school forever. He is brilliant with Math and loves AutoCad. Other then that, as far as school goes, its not so good. When he came home a couple of months ago and said he wants to learn C++, I was very excited! His teacher at school has spoken of C++ many of times and thats what really has gotten my son interested.

Here is what I am up against. We live a somewhat rural lifestyle and there is no resources at the school for him to learn this.

I was thinking I would start him off with a book and work through it with him. Is there any books / videos that you guys could recommend for starting off a teenager in the right direction? I appreciate any direction I can get!

[moorecm]

I would just provide a means:

- a book for his birthday or something
- internet access
- maybe provide a VM or some kind of environment to compile and develop on

That's it.

[z05DSL3A]

I would recommend one of the following books:

Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++
by Bjarne Stroustrup

or

C++ Primer: 4 edition
by Stanley B. Lippman, Josée Lajoie, and Barbara E. Moo

[moorecm]

I liked:

C++ Programming Today
by Barbara Johnston

[In2Deep]

Thanks fella's, I really appreciate your opinions a lot. I remember back in the late 80's getting hooked on Pascal. I might be off a little but I think that was in my Apple IIgs days. There was a game where you had a couple of tanks but you had to write the code to make each part of your tank work. Then you turned your tanks loose and watched them run from your code. I dont remember though if that was Pascal or something else.

Even though we live in the woods (lol) we are pretty plugged in here at home. I have a little hosting business that keeps me pretty busy. I pester both of my sons to run Linux but they like the video games, so Linux does not happen to often.

I will find those books right now and take a look. His birthday is coming up in May, so maybe I will get him one book now and see how it goes. Then another for his birthday

Thanks again for your thoughts!

[kempofighter]

C# might also be a good language to teach him. The microsoft website has a lot of example programs that you can download, compile, and execute. They also have a free compiler. If you go with c++ focus on teaching him object oriented programming which is probably easier to understand. Search for visual studio express to get a free compiler with built in debugging capabilities. C# doesn't allow global functions like C++ does. People have a bad habit of teaching C++ like it is C with classes. C# might be an easier language for a beginner to understand because it is a newer language that does not have support for the older C concepts as a C++ compiler would. A younger student might become totally overwhelmed with a language like C++.

Take a look at this.
http://www.microsoft.com/express/Programs/Student.aspx
https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx

[dbailey7]

Last year my son (he's a year older than your boy) was in the same situation. I home schooled him for a school year and included a mandatory computer course in his "curriculum". I used the text book C++ How to Program, Fifth Edition, by H.M. Deitel and P.J. Deitel (although the current edition is the seventh, the fifth was just fine; I got it because I found it used with the code CD ROM disc for $15 bucks). The text book really did virtually all of the work, and it was fairly gradual and very guided, to boot. So, I can recommend using it for your son. All you need to provide is answers to any questions that your boy might have as he goes through the text. We have complete working solutions for all of the exercises from chapter one through chapter eight, and I can send you code for any of them that he might have any difficulty with. My email address is [e-mail]. Good luck and regards,

DB

[Fantasy]

youtube thats how i learned c++

[packetpirate]

@Fantasy

No.