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How To Get a Game-Obsessed Teenager Into Coding?
looseBits writes "I have a friend whose 14-year-old son spends all his time gaming, like any normal teenager. However, my friend would like to find a more productive interest for him and asked me how to get him into coding. When I started coding, it was on the Apple II, and one could quickly write code that was almost as interesting as commercially available software. Now, times have changed and it would probably take years of study if starting from scratch to write something anyone would find mildly interesting. Does anyone have experience in getting their children into programming? How did you keep them interested if the only thing they can do after a week is make the computer count to 10 and dump it on the screen?"
I may be too old, but I think the father can test the waters with his kid in a similar fashion to how I was introduced to programming: simple programs in simple programming languages. In school I was walked through "Hello, world" in BASIC and found it interesting. There's something there in the quick feedback between coding and running the code that will either trip something in the kid's mind where he is interested in this or he isn't. I say start with BASIC, Pascal, or Java, something relatively easy. Start with simple, pre-done programs that offer a quick reward for the beginning programmer. If it sticks to the point where the kid starts reading and experimenting on his own, then great. If not, hopefully the father will be open enough to explore other possible interests with his child.
I would be worried that the father would try and throw the kid into the deep-end of the pool right away, in which case the kid is going to develop an aversion to programming. Start simple with some basic flow-charting and some basic programs. Maybe get some electronics kits to see if hardware appeals more than software.
One note. As the youngest of three sons, I programmed on my own and in conjunction with a few friends. Generally speaking, until the news media starting hyping programming as a great career opportunity none of our parents seemed particularly interested in what we were doing so long as our grades were decent and we weren't getting in to trouble. Whether its programming, playing basketball, or anything else, so long as the father takes the time to participate in the activity with his child and encourage the child to pursue his interests (other than pro-gamer), I think good will come of it.
I was in a programming class once and a fellow student asked me how I had solved a particularly difficult programming problem we had been given. I excitedly told him how I had come up with a clever solution that I was particularly proud of and about how I had awoken my roommate jumping up and down with delight when I did it. My fellow student just stared at me blankly, clearing not getting why I had been so excited at coming up with a unique solution to the problem. And that is when I knew that I was meant to be a programmer and he wasn't.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If he has any interest in creating something (game, interactive story, animation, etc.) it might be worth having him check out "Scratch" from MIT.
My pre-teens have played with it a bit - it can be pretty fun, and one can see how it introduces a lot of coding thoughts.
http://scratch.mit.edu/
"Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. ...."
I had a similar thing with cars. Figuring out how to fit this part onto this car, or trying to figure out what's making that weird noise, or bending a custom exhaust out of a straight piece of pipe for a car that didn't HAVE an exhaust system on it as a guide...the whole idea of figuring it out propelled me.
The same thing applies to my current job with mail merge programming. I absolutely love it when a client requests something that I not only haven't done, but something I never even considered doing. The challenge is what makes it fun. I dare anyone to name something as emotionally satisfying as facing a seemingly insurmountable problem...and then finding a solution.
Living With a Nerd
I agree with the other comments: if he doesn't have the interest, or if he doesn't have the aptitude, then trying to push him into coding is a waste of time.
That said: check out PyGame. PyGame is a set of libraries for Python, specifically intended for creating new games.
http://pygame.org/
Hmmm. I just went there, and it says that PyGame has now been ported to JavaScript. That probably makes sense, given the major efforts to speed up JavaScript in the new-generation web browsers.
At the PyGame web site, there are a bunch of games people have written, with source code available; and some of these games are half-done and half-broken. If he has the inclination to code, he might get interested in a half-done game and start fixing it up. Or even take a game that isn't half-baked, and start adding new features to it.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Give him the choice between: A. Writing pseudocode to mow a yard and see if *you* can "execute" it; or B. Mow the yard himself. Bonus: Either one can generate a living wage.
I have the same issue, with 12 and 13 year old sons. programming is a unique frame of mind and not everyone finds it as pasionate. I recently taught the oldest how to create domains and gave him access to a webserver and he is obsessed with coding html. ( www.kirkster.ky and www.simster.ky ) Dont know how much of it is original or just cut and paste but it looks impressive. With the other, being a bit more focused and detailed, i started building a graphics engine from scratch, and included him in the entire process, with the intentions of adding physics, collision, joints etc for a virtual robotic workbench, the trick here is to merge programming with something the kid finds rewarding, not just raw programming for programming sake. Its not structured but it does jump start the process.
There are some resources out there designed to attract the "gaming generation" into computer programming - it also happens to be a professional interest of mine (I teach primarily first year computer science).
Perhaps the most famous would be Alice (http://alice.org) - a drag and drop 3D programming environment.
Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu) is a 2D drag and drop environment
Greenfoot (http://www.greenfoot.org) is a 2D Java programming environment
Env3D (http://env3d.sourceforge.net) is a 3D Java programming environment (Disclaimer: I am the author of this tool) - It makes programming in 3D very straight forward, especially for beginners.
Have fun!
This is the age where boys seem to be "lost" the most, and parents seem to get the most concerned about them.
I work with boys (save the jokes), and I've seen it happen in several cases, right around this 13-15 age range. They suddenly find something they're interested in, and they just DO it.
In one case, it was a kid who just suddenly found video games boring, and moved on to photography and writing. He's very creative, and he found this very rewarding.
My own son; was a Guitar Hero monster. And I told him (joking): "if you spent this much time playing a REAL guitar, you'd be a really kick ass guitarist, instead of just beating your friends at a video game that will be obsolete in 2 years. Which do you think you'll be thankful for, when you're my age?"
He sold his xbox360, and all his games, (I miss Halo 2. . . ) and instead of spending 6 hrs a day playing video games, he plays his guitar for 6 hours a day. And he's pretty amazing. Even if his dreams of rock stardom don't work out, he's going to have a skill and a developed talent he's going to use the rest of his life.
So - don't "push" him in any direction. But DO expose him to other things. (I think it helps if some of the exposure happened before video games came in). He'll push himself in whichever direction works for him.
My armchair-psychologist idea of why this happens, is they're still searching for an identity. They're trying to figure out who they are. You can also make them somewhat accountable for the decisions they make too. (ie. there are consequences to spending all your time on video games. . . failing at real life).
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
I'm unclear on whether this dig at the end of your otherwise reasonable post is flamebait, or if I misunderstand what you mean be 'a lot of time', or if I just completely disagree with your premise. I'm far past 16 years old, and I still play games on my PC and consoles. Not every evening, not every weekend, and not the number and variety of games that I played when I was much younger. But still, regularly enough that I consider myself to be a 'gamer' when I buy PC hardware. I look forward to certain releases, like Fallout 3 or Assassin's Creed 2. I've got plenty of interesting, important things to think about. I have a full-time job in software development, and I'm starting graduate school in the fall. For me, gaming can be a fun way to relax in the evening. I don't feel compelled to think about interesting, important things at every waking moment. Do I need some help growing up, or can I spend my free time on the pursuits of my choice?
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It's a free and open-source Quake-like FPS. Usually the progression goes like this: Playing -> Mapping -> Scripting -> Coding. I've seen that progression played out several times in the community and myself (full disclosure: I moderate the forums and Quadropolis.us, the primary source for maps, mods, etc.).
Mapping is done in real time and in-game. A mere tap of the E key will switch between editing and playing, so you can see and test what you're doing immediately.
It's also designed to be light on resources. I use the (very underpowered!) open-source radeon driver to drive my Radeon X1600 Pro, and I can get a consistent 30 FPS with the eyecandy barely dialed back.
For a little more detail, here's the description from cubeengine.com:
I dare anyone to name something as emotionally satisfying as facing a seemingly insurmountable problem...and then finding a solution.
In a word: Teaching.
I find it to be eminently satisfying to be a part of the moment where a student is struggling with some tough (for them) concept and then the proverbial light clicks on and the understanding flows in. I also feel quite good about how students will return to me after a few years, students that quite often despised me for various reasons (not the least of which is that I made them *GASP* work and held them accountable), and tell me how much they learned in my class and wish that they had other teachers who could get through to them in the same way.
I'm not conceited enough to think that my career is the most emotionally satisfying thing that will occur in my life, or is the most emotionally satisfying thing "EVAH!", but it is definitely a very rewarding choice for me.
Mess not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
I disagree. There are a lot of tools that enable you to code interesting things with very little effort. In fact, because things are so advanced, it is now much easier for people to find interest in programming. "Back in the day" the programs light up a few leds or made a few blocks move. It wasn't impressive. Nowadays, you look at any state-of-art computer game and it's impressive. If you have the drive to understand how things work, you will very likely become interested in computers. I know many developers who came to this industry because of computer games.
Tell him under no circumstances is he allowed to program. Should work with most teenagers.
Funny, I started programming round when War Games came out. My parents were very worry about my interested in computer programming, I was banned from owning a modem while I live at home. Or maybe it was all a ploy so I would leave home and go to college, rather than staying home and become a fisherman.
M0571y H@rml355.
simply NOT true: http://scalablegamedesign.cs.colorado.edu/ Look at the data. Up to 900 kids per school per year make simple games and most of the them love it. That is a HUGE number.
The dig that I posted as a quote from the GP. Gamers past the age of 16 need help growing up? They don't have enough interesting or important things to think about? I disagree that that is necessarily the case, and it seemed an unnecessarily abrasive way to state the position. Granted, it provoked conversation.
That aside, I agree that if a person is playing video games, or engaging in any other activity, to the extent that it's impairing their ability to engage with the real world, then that's a problem. I never suggested that it wasn't. But I didn't get the sense that we were talking about a kid who was failing in life because of gaming, so that's not even a situation that I was trying to address.
The need to play so much indicates(to me) that they don't have enough interesting, more important things to think about.
Why can't playing a video game be that "interesting, more important" thing that you say they don't have? Just as people still believe that Comic books are just for kids, people still have that stigma attached to video games. I can name many main stream comic books that are not for children even if many people think they are. Playing video games is just as legitimate of a hobby as woodworking, fishing, or reading a book, yet because of the idea it is "immature" gaming is frowned upon. For me, gaming led to a general interesting in all things computing and thus to a successful career as a software engineer. I still play video games on my free time because it is a hobby I enjoy. There are video games which are every bit as interesting and works of art as a movie, a book, or a painting.
"Those days" are not totally gone, if you can find a reasonably modern game that supports modding. Obviously games today are too advanced for a novice to to attempt to build from scratch, but with a pre-built game that allows some degree of customisability through code, an interest in programming can still be fostered.
Personal case-in-point: I became interested in programming thanks to Quake C. I now hold a successful, fulltime position as a software developer for a national corporation.
Yes.
Gaming mods can be a fun gateway to programming if you're the type of person who's willing to be a programmer.
Otherwise, it's just a gaming mod, and it's pointless to try to interest them in programming. Uses a computer all the time != destined to be a programmer(1)
What we really need is to know the sort of games this kid plays. You mentioned some action games, and I know of NWN and NWN2 as RPGs with very large modding communities and editors built in, Civ 4 has plenty of modding resources, etc.
Anyone else? Is there some sort of definitive list here? Fairly modern, but cheap, games with large mod communities?
Of course, the real joke might be that, for all we know, this kid is a major modder already, world famous in his community. He just doesn't bother to call it 'programming'.
Another gateway, of course, is web design. Get them a cheap PHP + mysql webhost, and see what they do. But if they're into games the modding gateway is probably easier.
1) That was true two decades ago, when I was a kid. But, honestly, half the population 'uses a computer all the time' nowadays.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?