Modern software is an organic soup of interacting components. To plant in your students the sense of perceiving complex system with many interacting components, I would start with the great StarLogo TNG software, which allows children to program 3D simulations & games, almost without any training.
After that, I would recommend the best programming language out there (IMHO of course), Python, which is easy to learn, built on good OOP principles & powerful for any task at hand.
For letting your students really use what they've learned, teach them also Web development, e.g., with Django, & teach them how to deploy Web applications to the Google AppEngine cloud. By experimenting with this & building useful stuff that is available for all, they'll truly learn what's programming all about.
Same findings here with brand new MacBook & HP laptops. The MacBook just saves me tons of time, really.
Just consider for example the waking up time, crucial for mobile work: less than a second on MacBook vs. more than 3 minutes on the Windows based HP.
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Modern software is an organic soup of interacting components. To plant in your students the sense of perceiving complex system with many interacting components, I would start with the great StarLogo TNG software, which allows children to program 3D simulations & games, almost without any training. After that, I would recommend the best programming language out there (IMHO of course), Python, which is easy to learn, built on good OOP principles & powerful for any task at hand. For letting your students really use what they've learned, teach them also Web development, e.g., with Django, & teach them how to deploy Web applications to the Google AppEngine cloud. By experimenting with this & building useful stuff that is available for all, they'll truly learn what's programming all about.
Same findings here with brand new MacBook & HP laptops. The MacBook just saves me tons of time, really. Just consider for example the waking up time, crucial for mobile work: less than a second on MacBook vs. more than 3 minutes on the Windows based HP.
The best education open-source software out there!