Summer Programming Courses Before Heading Off To College?

First time accepted submitter LiteWait writes "My son is heading off to college next year and although he is bright kid with a great background in math and science, he has indicated that he'd like learn some introductory programming skills this summer. The courses at the local universities are pretty sparse and most of the CS101-type courses I've seen offered are too general to meet his needs. Even though he is a self-starter I think he would benefit from actual courses/code camps/etc rather than just slogging through online samples and tutorials. I'd like some advice on possible options for code camps, online courses, or developer training."

Comments

Re:Python

[spongebue]

If you go that route, I like Learn Python the Hard Way. I used it to learn Python from my Java background, but it's also great for those that have never programmed in their life. The basic programming structures (loops, conditions, classes, etc) are all covered and can be transferred to other languages, and it's not too strenuous despite its name (while still learning stuff, of course). Everything is very well narrated.

Codecademy

[djKing]

Our daughter signed up for Codeademy (http://codeademy.com/)to help her with a CS course she was taking at UBC. She's in Arts but needed a science and CS fit the bill. She found Codeademy very helpful. She got an A+ in the CS course.