Ask Slashdot: Best Book Or Game To Introduce Kids To Programming?

New submitter connorblack writes "My very gifted nephew is about to turn nine this month and I would love to get him some sort of fun, engaging book or game to introduce him to the basic concepts of programming. I have a feeling if approached correctly he would absolutely devour the subject (he is already working through mathematics at an 8th grade level). What I first was looking at were the Lego Mindstorm programmable robots- which would have been perfect, if only they weren't around 300 dollars... So if there's anything similar (or completely new!) you've either heard praise about or used yourself with your kids, it would be great to get a recommendation. Also if possible I would want to stick to an under 100 dollar budget." Would a nine year old be able to follow The Little Schemer?

Comments

The Perl Obfuscation game

[colin_faber]

Because it's hard =)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obfuscated_Perl_Contest

Re:The Perl Obfuscation game

[danceswithtrees]

Obfuscated Perl is redundant.

modding video games

[theheadlessrabbit]

Is there a video game he is particularly fond of?

Games that are easy to hack and mod are a great start - they are tweaking something they already love. I wasted many hours of my elementary school days tweaking the rules.ini file to make command and conquer's AI a more capable opponent. That lead to scripting one player levels in an attempt to make my own campaign. That lead to...nothing at all....but it might be a start.

The tools available today seem a lot more complex, but also a lot more open than they were when I was young.

Good luck.

Re:Minecraft

[citizenr]

http://0x10c.com/

Not yet released, but looks quite cool.

Learn to program from a guy who puts 1 cycle Division instructions in imaginary CPUs. What could possibly go wrong? :)

Re:Scratch

[FireFury03]

The older one went on to learn Java with his friend over the summer.

My condolences. :(