If you give him/her, at that age, a 400 MHz P2, all they'll do is play addictive video games, build up a massive MP3 collection, and generally try to be a "geek", without understanding what that actually means.
This assumes that an older person would use a computer more responsibly. How many untold numbers of college freshmen have gone down the dark path of MP3 collections and residential LAN games? At least with a child this age, the parents are still around to help him stay on track. But even then, crippling his access to technology doesn't seem like the thing to do if you're attempting to nurture (not control) his growth.
Java certainly seems to take more resources, but that's because it's badly implemented, not because the concept needs huge amounts of CPU.
The boy expressed an interest in learning Java, and here you say that it's tough beans, because it's badly implemented and won't run very fast on the 10 year-old computer you're forcing upon him? What kind of sense does that make?
So why shouldn't he build up an MP3 collection instead of learning to do quality programming? I've rarely (or at least, rarely in comparison) seen really young people appreciate jazz, or independent rock, or classical music. The contents of the collection will be alterna-crap. Likewise, playing vintage games gives an appreciation for that fact that game design isn't merely about how many polygons you can fit on a figure. Many game designers do not understand this.
First off, I hardly think that even his listening habits need to be policed. Alterna-crap has its good aspects too, otherwise it wouldn't be so damn popular. My parents listened to jazz and classical all the time, and when I was young couldn't stand it. Now it's half of my music collection. People's tastes change with age. What's meaningful to one at 10 is likely to be very different from what one listens to at 25. But the "intellectual" aspects of "jazz, independent rock[?] and classical" nonwithstanding, musical taste is one of the most personal things a person can have.
As for the qualities of vintage games, well, I have lots of fun playing all the old games, yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't like new ones, either. If he has a fast computer, he can play both. Heck he can also emulate Atari games, for historical appreciation reasons. What's wrong with lots of polygons? Games have to have simplistic visuals in order that a person can appreciate good design?
From my point of view, the best education and opportunity for growth would come from increasing access to resources, not restricting it. Giving a smart kid a slow computer only to have his friends talk about their fast ones won't do much good.
Besides, from what the original post said, the kid almost has an electronics associates degree, has asked about learning assembly and java, and wants to design an OS. It doesn't exactly sound like he needs a heavy hand to keep him interested in educational and constructive tasks. He'll figure out for himself what's good and what's crap. As a tutor, one can give advice and direction to his endeavors, but one shouldn't police them.
Now, with that, install any OS that comes with sources, and introduce him to the fine art of hardware programming. The world doesn't need many more programmers... we do need some good device programmers that will have 8 or so years of programming before they expect to be paid a bundle...
Do you really think that "what the world needs" is a good reason for teaching a child something? Good education has nothing to do with what skills are currently trading well in society. A 9 year-old child doesn't necessarily need to know how to write a device driver. His educators shouldn't be thinking about which skills would be the best-rewarded.
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This assumes that an older person would use a computer more responsibly. How many untold numbers of college freshmen have gone down the dark path of MP3 collections and residential LAN games? At least with a child this age, the parents are still around to help him stay on track. But even then, crippling his access to technology doesn't seem like the thing to do if you're attempting to nurture (not control) his growth.
Java certainly seems to take more resources, but that's because it's badly implemented, not because the concept needs huge amounts of CPU.
The boy expressed an interest in learning Java, and here you say that it's tough beans, because it's badly implemented and won't run very fast on the 10 year-old computer you're forcing upon him? What kind of sense does that make?
So why shouldn't he build up an MP3 collection instead of learning to do quality programming? I've rarely (or at least, rarely in comparison) seen really young people appreciate jazz, or independent rock, or classical music. The contents of the collection will be alterna-crap. Likewise, playing vintage games gives an appreciation for that fact that game design isn't merely about how many polygons you can fit on a figure. Many game designers do not understand this.
First off, I hardly think that even his listening habits need to be policed. Alterna-crap has its good aspects too, otherwise it wouldn't be so damn popular. My parents listened to jazz and classical all the time, and when I was young couldn't stand it. Now it's half of my music collection. People's tastes change with age. What's meaningful to one at 10 is likely to be very different from what one listens to at 25. But the "intellectual" aspects of "jazz, independent rock[?] and classical" nonwithstanding, musical taste is one of the most personal things a person can have.
As for the qualities of vintage games, well, I have lots of fun playing all the old games, yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't like new ones, either. If he has a fast computer, he can play both. Heck he can also emulate Atari games, for historical appreciation reasons. What's wrong with lots of polygons? Games have to have simplistic visuals in order that a person can appreciate good design?
From my point of view, the best education and opportunity for growth would come from increasing access to resources, not restricting it. Giving a smart kid a slow computer only to have his friends talk about their fast ones won't do much good.
Besides, from what the original post said, the kid almost has an electronics associates degree, has asked about learning assembly and java, and wants to design an OS. It doesn't exactly sound like he needs a heavy hand to keep him interested in educational and constructive tasks. He'll figure out for himself what's good and what's crap. As a tutor, one can give advice and direction to his endeavors, but one shouldn't police them.
peace.
Do you really think that "what the world needs" is a good reason for teaching a child something? Good education has nothing to do with what skills are currently trading well in society. A 9 year-old child doesn't necessarily need to know how to write a device driver. His educators shouldn't be thinking about which skills would be the best-rewarded.
Used HP 735/125 workstation - $125 Canadian, computer surplus store
- 125Mhz PA-RISC processor
- 96Mb RAM
- 1 Gb SCSI HD
- 10Mb Ethernet
Runs BSD, PA-RISC Linux, HP-UX, or NeXTSTEP