What is a good computer programming language to start to teach kids?

It seems there are so many different computer languages, and don't know where to start. What is good way to start teaching kids on computer programming? Any book? Any website? What program? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

What is a good computer programming language to start to teach kids?
BASIC was designed as a starter programming language. Your options here are:





Visual BASIC There is a free download of VB.net 2005 but you'll have to buy a book to really learn anything with it. Making Windows programs is nice, but the old DOS based versions eliminate the complexity of a Windows GUI.





QBASIC if you have a Win95/98 full install CD or an old DOS 6.22 disk set. There may be other sources and you can probably still download it.





Quick BASIC is a compiler version of QBASIC. Version 4.0 was actually best here. The 4.5 version was actually slower than the 4.0 version if you need speed. After 4.5 the transition to Visual BASIC and Windows versions began.





There are several free versions of BASIC Do some Google searches.





XBASIC is a large number version of BASIC similar to GW BASIC that was from DOS 5. It is useful for tinkering with number theory and some 60+ digit large numbers. It can also be used for somewhat normal programs.





Chipmunk BASIC has been around quite a while. I think there was a Linux version of it as well.





Liberty BASIC is not free, but you might be interested in the trial version. This is also a Windows version so you might not want to use this one.





Note that some of the versions of BASIC listed here are old DOS based interpreters. You could give the kids an old 386 or 486 computer and let them experiment and learn without worrying about messing up a good computer.





If you really want to teach kids, you'll need to keep their attention. Even simple text graphics running around on the screen will be more interesting than solving math problems. You'll want to use short simple programs that give instant feedback when they work.





As for books, kids is the hard part. I don't think there is much for kids any more. I managed to learn back in the late 70s and back then there was more simply because there were a lot of books published with nice if simple games. Magazines were available that published programs and games that were fun. Text was almost all you had to work with. Even if you only had a Commodore 64 back then, it could be made to do something. You could still use a Commodore 64 to teach programming today and it has limited colors.





Google "teaching kids programming" and follow some of the links. I found one place that dislikes logo simply because it gets difficult when used for larger programs. You'll find more help on some of those pages than anyone can type in here.





Depending on the age, you can ramp up or down with what you want to do. "Hello World" is the traditional start in many programming languages.





You'll need to educate yourself. Learning to program is not that difficult and your kids may be teaching you before long. I would personally recommend QBASIC because of the minimal hardware requirements and it will still run in a DOS or Command Window.





I still have a copy of the fractal fern and some other interesting programs. Sadly most of my old books are gone. Try garage sales and used book sales. Maybe it is time to write a good book about teaching programming along with a free version of what ever language gets used.





Shadow Wolf
Reply:I would suggest Visual Basic because it is just like English language and you can start programming within minutes.





Visit this free Visual Basic tutorial web site at





http://www.vbtutor.net





It is the Google's top searched Vb tutorial site, it has many lessons of VB and tons of sample programs comprising business , math, kids, games and other programs.


It has e-book to download too.
Reply:Logo was designed to be a language to teach programming to kids.





But it's better to learn programming before you learn languages in which to program.
Reply:BASIC :


http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~bergmann/other_pa...





HTML is not a computer programming language.
Reply:BASIC, Turing, and HTML are great choices.
Reply:Any programmer will tell you .....BASIC





I recommend trying QuickBasic it came with DOS 5 or 6 and would be a great way to start on the fundementals of programming....its a more robust version of the language but can still interperate and run original basic code....





Heres where it started for me and almost any programmer over 30





10: Print "Hello World"


20: End