in reply to How do I get my teenager interested in software development?

If he shows any interest, get him to do something *he* wants the computer to do. Maybe write some shareware? That way he's going to see programming my contribute to his wallet.

Is he a gamer? Is that an avenue that he might enjoy exploring? I realize you said that the maths are an issue at the moment, but it's perhaps an avenue to explore.

But as others have said, if he doesn't show the interest, pushing him to it is probably going to drive him away.

Revolution. Today, 3 O'Clock. Meet behind the monkey bars.
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Re^2: How do I get my teenager interested in software development?
by talexb (Chancellor) on Aug 23, 2006 at 16:01 UTC
      If he shows any interest, get him to do something *he* wants the computer to do. Maybe write some shareware? That way he's going to see programming my contribute to his wallet.

    Great idea -- we downloaded one IDE package and he was all keen to use it till he found out it was shareware. I'm not against shareware, I bought a few packages in the 80's and 90's, but I don't think he's quite up to that level yet. I want to get him started gently.

      But as others have said, if he doesn't show the interest, pushing him to it is probably going to drive him away.

    Understood -- it's not that he isn't showing interest, I just think he needs to get engaged. I imagine his brain is like this enormous engine with huge potential, and it's just sitting on a siding somewhere idling, when it could be pulling huge trains of cars up mountains. He just needs the right kind of trigger.

    Alex / talexb / Toronto

    "Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds

[reply]

      If you're on a Mac you don't need to download any shareware IDE. Just install XCode off the OS X CD (usually the second disk). It's free with the OS and a pretty spiffy environment that'll let you code in ObjectiveC, Java, Perl, or Ruby (the later two with the appropriate libraries like CamelBones or RubyCocoa).

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