My Son`s First Program

This is it. Liam has built his first program (sort of) and I am glad that the reason he did it was to confirm what he learned and not as a desire to become a programmer. If you haven’t seen http://www.khanacademy.org/cs/ check it out. An outstanding resource for kids to learn basic programming and practice some math skills. Liam has started Algebra and this was his first “program” to solidify understanding of concepts such as variable,  algebraic expression, formula, input, and output.

I loved the fact that it was in JavaScript, so natural (he knows how to use browser), intuitive (var for variable). Except semicolon – VB developers would agree with Liam on his words: “weird”. 

As a parent, I’m going to embrace this tool, hoping that Liam will benefit from “real-time” visualization, though I will never substitute a printed book with it.

PS: Liam is 8, in case you are wondering.