Age for Programming
What would you say is an ideal age to get into programming? I am 15 years old and have done some programming. What's your take?
closed account (1vRz3TCk)
The ideal age is when you start asking 'but why does it do that? How can I make it do things differently?'
The biggest problem is that kids don't have a computer that they can 'play' with. In the past there were less expensive computers that kids could use and learn from but now the family computer to 'too expensive to and complicated to let the kids free on it'. Hopefully the Raspberry Pi[1] will reverse this.
I miss my old Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST...fun times.
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[1] http://www.raspberrypi.org/
The biggest problem is that kids don't have a computer that they can 'play' with. In the past there were less expensive computers that kids could use and learn from but now the family computer to 'too expensive to and complicated to let the kids free on it'. Hopefully the Raspberry Pi[1] will reverse this.
I miss my old Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST...fun times.
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[1] http://www.raspberrypi.org/
closed account (1yR4jE8b)
| 'too expensive to and complicated to let the kids free on it' |
This couldn't be further from the truth. Comparing MAC OS X, Windows 7, (or even Ubuntu) to computers from back in those days, they are not only much much easier to use today but also substantially less expensive. Not only that, the operating systems were far more fragile and prone to breakage then they are today. Not only that, programming itself is substantially easier then it was back in those days too.
The ideal age to get into program is the age that you become interested in it.
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closed account (1vRz3TCk)
| 'too expensive to and complicated to let the kids free on it' |
| This couldn't be further from the truth... |
I picked up an old Win XP computer tower for $40 off craigslist. Works great. Got a mouse, keyboard, and monitor at Savers thrift store so my whole working PC cost $52. I use it as a web server.
Why does a kid need a new computer? I'm an adult and I have an $800 laptop I use for work and an old $40 tower I use just as much. When my kids are old enough I'm going to teach them programming and how to fight fires, and become a medical provider so they can grow up to be just like daddy. I didn't get into programming until I was 22. I wish I had started when I was 5.
Old enough to write a sentence and add and subtract. Old enough to program. :)
Why does a kid need a new computer? I'm an adult and I have an $800 laptop I use for work and an old $40 tower I use just as much. When my kids are old enough I'm going to teach them programming and how to fight fires, and become a medical provider so they can grow up to be just like daddy. I didn't get into programming until I was 22. I wish I had started when I was 5.
Old enough to write a sentence and add and subtract. Old enough to program. :)
I began tinkering with Game MAKer as early as at age 12, two years and I could make a 3D platformer game that -- barely, only barely -- worked. I tried VB and C#, I remember creating a Counter Strike like bomb for my old Windows Phone 5 phone, took me a week and was a massive code bloat. Then it came to a halt.
Early this spring I put a degree in game technology as first choice and saw they were using Unity3D, so then I started learning C# for real and it took me mere weeks to understand how Unity3D objects were interacting and their classes. As I discovered that there was a degree in game programming being offered here in Norway, I changed my decision quickly and started practicing C++ and would still go back and forth between C# and C++, and haven't done any C# coding since august 11th.
Now, I have started on that degree and is a semester infront of the rest of the class and have a decent grasp at much of the second semester too, feels good.
So... to answer the question: as soon as possible. No matter how high level or weak, you'll get to practice solving problem.
Early this spring I put a degree in game technology as first choice and saw they were using Unity3D, so then I started learning C# for real and it took me mere weeks to understand how Unity3D objects were interacting and their classes. As I discovered that there was a degree in game programming being offered here in Norway, I changed my decision quickly and started practicing C++ and would still go back and forth between C# and C++, and haven't done any C# coding since august 11th.
Now, I have started on that degree and is a semester infront of the rest of the class and have a decent grasp at much of the second semester too, feels good.
So... to answer the question: as soon as possible. No matter how high level or weak, you'll get to practice solving problem.
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(diggin' away, turnin' a fresh grave)
I think it has a lot to do with how overprotective parents are today.
I grew up with access to a computer. It was so severely gimped by nanny software that effectively used a word filter to block out 80% of the internet, had "security" software including both Mcafee and Norton taking up over half of it's already meagre Pentium 2 system resources at all times. Unable to install any software or download any files, my parents honestly believed video games were the source of the virus collection they'd developed. Meanwhile, un-renewed bullshit security solutions never updated and they clicked every FREE IPOD TODAY link every day until eventually the box just sat in the basement derelict and a new one was bought and we were refused access completely "because our games broke the computer last time";
Repeat, ad nausea.
I think it has a lot to do with how overprotective parents are today.
I grew up with access to a computer. It was so severely gimped by nanny software that effectively used a word filter to block out 80% of the internet, had "security" software including both Mcafee and Norton taking up over half of it's already meagre Pentium 2 system resources at all times. Unable to install any software or download any files, my parents honestly believed video games were the source of the virus collection they'd developed. Meanwhile, un-renewed bullshit security solutions never updated and they clicked every FREE IPOD TODAY link every day until eventually the box just sat in the basement derelict and a new one was bought and we were refused access completely "because our games broke the computer last time";
Repeat, ad nausea.
lol jj... I'm kinda glad that my parents aren't interested in using computers at all now... (I did warn them not to click on anything they don't know without asking me first anyways though).
I started when I was like 14 or 15. Earlier would probably have worked too, though I honestly only started to do it more seriously near the end of high school (mostly because our computer "science" classes were so damn boring).
I started when I was like 14 or 15. Earlier would probably have worked too, though I honestly only started to do it more seriously near the end of high school (mostly because our computer "science" classes were so damn boring).
I got into it August 1997, but sadly I didn't take it serious til just the past few years. Makes me regret being almost 30 and wasting time for 14 years or so. By the time I get a career programming I will be too old :(.
closed account (zb0S216C)
| tejas1995 wrote: |
|---|
| What would you say is an ideal age to get into programming? (sic) |
There isn't one. Some peoples brains are more developed than others at a younger age which allows them to start taking in more complex information.
Wazzak
I'd say 14-16. I tried to start C++ at 13 and it flew right over my head, and I gave up. Add another year and suddenly it wasn't as hard. I mean, it was still like fighting a dinosaur after having all your limbs amputated and while wearing a blindfold, but at least I could just about understand what I was reading.
We did Turing in school when I was 16 and it wasn't difficult to understand. The next year we did Visual Basic and my last year we did Java. I think having a background (albeit an old background) in OOP concepts, especially Java, makes learning C++ a lot easier.
It of course depends on the person, but starting with VB/Java is a good idea if C++ seems a bit too much to take in. Considering a lot of the concepts/methodology of OOP can be learned in any OOP language, you don't really miss out on anything by learning them before C++.
It of course depends on the person, but starting with VB/Java is a good idea if C++ seems a bit too much to take in. Considering a lot of the concepts/methodology of OOP can be learned in any OOP language, you don't really miss out on anything by learning them before C++.
As many have said already, it can be any age, as long as you can do math and are able to read. My co-worker started getting into programming when he was 6, and I started programming in action script when I was 9, so 15 is definately not too young, as long as you are motivated. Here is a warning though, learning to program could take months of building simple applications that don't really do anything special, but once those months (or years) are over, it will be worth it. So keep at it!
EDIT:
I also started learning C when I was 11 :D
EDIT:
I also started learning C when I was 11 :D
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I got interested in computers when my parents actually started to let me on the desktop we had, they didn't let me or any of my siblings on our desktop till I was in 6th grade, I was intrigued and wondered by the amazing things it could do, and it only took about a month for me to decide I was going to try and learn all I could about them. One of the biggest things I wanted to do was learn to program, but at the time I didn't know what programming languages there where and where I could learn them from, I slowly got better with computers learning little piece by little piece, still a lot to learn, but anyways, when I was I think 14 I got a book set that taught you how to program and make video games in a language called blitz3d and blitzmax(game programming is what I'm most interested in, but I do like making normal applications). It was the only language I knew for about a year, then I started to learn C, but what I really wanted to learn was C++, I learned some C, but I never fully finished learning it, got a lot of it done though, been working on C++ sense(off and on at first cause I couldnt grasp the concepts, but as I got older it just kinda got easier), and I'm 16 now, so once I get C++ grasped better, I'm gonna try to start making video games, I also wish to make my own line of computer OS's but that will take time and dedication, and I hope to make an OS that outdoes Mac(I hate mac, I like the hardware from apple, but I cant stand the OS's), Linux, and Windows, the trick will be getting my OS popular. But ya, anyways I say go for learning it now, the sooner the better ;P
EDIT:sorry for the whole autobiography thing...
EDIT:sorry for the whole autobiography thing...
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| I also wish to make my own line of computer OS's |
Allow me to question the wiseness of that.
| I also wish to make my own line of computer OS's Allow me to question the wiseness of that. |
Seconded :D
If you want to try to make an OS, making a Linux distro is FAR more practical, and even that is no small undertaking.
closed account (1vRz3TCk)
| I also wish to make my own line of computer OS's |
Get yourself a copy of something like Operating System Concepts by Abraham Silberschatz and have a read.
| (I hate mac, I like the hardware from apple, but I cant stand the OS's) |
What? I think that's the only thing that's good with apple. Also, you must realize that half the price you pay is for a very good music program, photo editing program and so on, if you use neither of these then it's like buying photoshop and Protools for every computer and don't use it. If you use these software, then you get your moneys worth and more.