[sf-lug] Books for kids about programming

[jim]

   There's also Al Sweigart's "Invent Your Own 
Computer Games with Python": 

   Here's a link with a blurb from the author: 
http://groups.google.com/group/freecomputerbooks/web/invent-your-own-computer-games-with-python-2008-albert-sweigart 

   Here's a link that presents downloads for this 
and other Python-oriented computer "books": 
http://freecomputerbooks.com/langPythonBooks.html 

   The XO laptop (One Laptop Per Child) has a 
Python programming activity: 
http://www.laptop.org/en/ 

   Seems to me your idea to write something that 
introduces programming to children is still a 
good idea. The "something" may or may not be a 
book, per se. I think an interactive game could 
be good: something that starts simple and, as it 
builds, presents exercises that are "pythonic", 
an important concept that, seems to me, is 
largely missing in Python books and other 
material. 


   (In my view, "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: 
Learning with Python" is frustratingly incomplete 
in its mission.) 



On Tue, 2009-07-14 at 03:12 -0700, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> A few years ago (2004?) I decided it would be a neat idea to write
> a book about programming for kids.  Maybe do it collaboratively, and
> release it under a nice open license.  I asked around (including this list)
> to figure out what modern language would be suitable for kids, and almost
> everyone said Python.
> 
> Fast forward to 30 minutes ago.  I have not written a book, though the idea
> has been in the back of my mind.  Then I come across this book review over
> at Slashdot:
> 
>   http://books.slashdot.org/story/09/07/13/1349203/Hello-World
> 
> And one of the comments leads me to:
> 
>   http://openbookproject.net/thinkCSpy/
> 
> 
> So apparently, while I was snoozing[*], TWO books have been created.
> "Hello World!" is a print book, written by a father/son team.
> "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" is a collab'd book at the
> Open Book Project.
> 
> How nifty is that!? :)
> 
> 
> [*] Changing jobs a few times, having our first baby, and moving back and
>     forth between towns. ;)  Oh, and developing/maintaining Tux Paint,
>     and helping run a Linux User Group, too!
>