The Little Coder's Predicament

An anonymous reader writes "There's an interesting article on Advogato about the world of computing that kids today find themselves in compared to the world that kids in the 80's found themselves in. Learning to program in the 80's was simpler because the machines were more limited, and generally came with BASIC. Now we have Windows, which typically comes with no built-in programming language. What can be done to improve the situation?"

Comments

Get real!

[Kombat]

Install Linux.

How old were you when you started toying with computer programming? I don't know about you, but I was about 10. Now, your curt, smug comment seems pretty stupid when you consider that a 10 year old has neither the hardware nor the experience to install Linux. Think about it. The family probably has 1 computer. Mom and Dad use this computer to check their email, or maybe one of them works from home on it sometimes. Do you really think that they're going to let little 10-year old Johnnie wipe the hard drive and install Linux? Or are they supposed to buy Johnnie his own $1000 computer. For a 10 year old who might not give a rat's behind about computers by this time next week.

Riiiiiight. I suppose the little tyke could just repartition the hard drive and install a dual-booter like LILO to make sure Mom and Dad can still use Windows, right? Would YOU trust a 10-year old who knows nothing about Linux or programming repartition your hard drive for you?

Remember: we're talking about children here! Not teens!