Exposing Older Children and Young Adults to Programming
From Studyplace
Contents |
[edit] List of Mainstream Programming Languages
- Java
- C
- C++
- Visual Basic
[edit] List of Mainstream Scripting Languages
- Perl (server-side)
- PHP (server-side)
- Javascript (mostly client-side)
[edit] Other Programming and Scripting Languages of Interest
- Ruby
- Python
- Prolog
- Lisp
[edit] What language to use?
The language to use would depend on the age of the learner. It would be best to first expose the learner to a programming environment such as scratch to familiarize the user to programming. Next expose them to a language such as Perl to get their feat wet with mainstream programming. Then either move to a mainstream language such as Java or C or expose them to a language such as Python or Lisp.
Medium Level
A nice language to use to teach programming is Perl. There are many good and bad things about Perl but most importantly one could think of it as the language that is "just right" to use. A perfect stepping stone to get students feet wet with programming and introduce them to the way xx programming languages work.
Benefits to Teaching: What makes it "just right"
- Perl is interpreted and not compiled which makes it a lot easier to teach since it eliminates a step of the process.
- Perl resembles current popular programming and scripting languages as Visual Basic, Java, C, C++, and PHP.
- It contains many modules that allow teachers to teach advanced concepts by teaching only the core items of the task. For example: Perl contains a push and pop function that allow you to turn an array into a stack a perfect way to expose stacks to young prgorammers.
- Perl comes installed on Mac and Linux machines so it is already available without any additional overhead and is extremely easy to install on Windows. The windows distribution is provided free of charge by ActiveState and can be found }http://www.activestate.com/Products/activeperl/ here}.
- Perl also has the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network which is a repository of code enabling you to teach students more advanced topics without necessarily increasing the complexity of the code, and focus on the key theoretical aspects of the topic.
[edit] Questions
- You wrote Perl is interpreted, is there no byte code?
- There are many programming languages that are in fashion that seem better to use, why not use them?
There is no reason not to use one of the more "flavorful" languages such as Ruby, Python, etc. However it is important to note that there are many computer languages and many new ones coming out all the time. The majority of code out there is created in the mainstream languages Java, C, Visual Basic. These languages and some filed specific languages such as Fortran, Mathematica all resemble Perl and as such Perl can be a perfect stepping stone to them. While learning a newer language has its own benefits it might be wiser to start early programmers off with something more mainstream. If there is additional time you might want to consider Python as a second language to expose students with a different way of programming.
- What about Scratch?
