[TriLUG] Teaching Kids to Program

[Dwain Sims via TriLUG]

I'll throw in my two cents here.

I have been messing with programming languages since 1977 or so.  I've seen
a lot of things come and go.  Teaching good concepts is the most important
thing to do.  Loops and case, if/then, pointers and objects, functions and
subroutines and parameter passing and threads.  All of this is common
stuff.  You do it in (almost) every language.

And Python is probably the best thing to use today. However, if will very
likely not be the thing that is in vogue when the 12 year old goes for his
or her first job.  It be something new, and folks will scoff at that old
Python garbage (when that time comes.)  So learn the concepts well and be
able to transfer the knowledge to whatever becomes the next greatest thing
ever.

Dwain