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How To Get a Game-Obsessed Teenager Into Coding?

Posted by Soulskill on from the apps-and-addons dept.

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?"

4 of 704 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Your friend needs to man up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    FYI - normal teenagers do not spend all their time gaming

    They also need to do "sexting" and masturbate.

  2. Re:Same way you get your kids interested in gaming by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Oh that is so racist I don't even know where to start. Can we please not place left-wing baiting tropes before the masses? It shows an appalling lack of class consciousness.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  3. Re:You don't by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I dare anyone to name something as emotionally satisfying as facing a seemingly insurmountable problem...and then finding a solution.

    In a nutshell, this is exactly what's wrong with the United States circa 2010. This is a ridiculously dominionist viewpoint, common among the Christian Right. In a politico-religious context, dominionism is the tendency among some conservative politically-active Christians to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action. The goal is either a nation governed by Christians, or a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law.

    So guess what, fuck you and your polluting cars. Fuck you and your idea that anyone who doesn't share your viewpoint is an "insurmountable problem". As far as your idea of a "solution" goes, let's just hope it's not the "final" variety.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  4. How To Get a Game-Obsessed Teenager Into Coding? by dziban303 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Beatings are a good start.