Hi all,

My 8 year old is asking if he can learn how to program.

I’d like to support this, and it seems like it’s not a transient interest as he’s been all over scratch, and using things like minecraft commands for the last year. I have an old (pre 2017) MacBook Air I can set up for this. How do I / what would you advise I set up for him, to a) keep him safe online (he’s 8!) and b) give him the tools he needs in a structured way.

  • Wet@lemmy.world
    16·
    2 years ago

    In terms of keeping him safe online look into some content filtering for the whole home network, either paid or self-hosted.

    Projects that act upon physical stuff are the most rewarding. Something simple such as building a simple Python script that interacts with a smart home API and turns switches on/off or changes light colors around the house are relatively simple and require no hardware/mechanics if you’re not into robotics, soldering or circuit boards.

    You’ve got a great kid :)

      • Big P@feddit.uk
        English
        3·
        2 years ago

        Writing a program in assembly for 6502 processor might be a little bit too far from scratch for an 8 year old

        • MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          2 years ago

          HAHA yes of course of course. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility if they show an interest in it. Ben does some really simple projects that an 8 yr old could tackle to get some real fundamental understanding of what’s going on under the hood.