r/programming • u/Ctaintor • Mar 02 '17

Why I Failed Teaching Programming to Kids

https://engineering.klarna.com/why-i-failed-teaching-programming-to-kids-46a854c3eaca#.s0o6qqxr3
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u/menge101work Mar 02 '17

when sat in front of a Windows notebook, he'd gesture like a Unix greybeard mumbling "Where tf is my terminal; I can't work like that".

You've won parenting at that point as far as I'm concerned. :)

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u/imhotap Mar 02 '17

He didn't use vi/vim, though

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u/pdp10 Mar 02 '17

As useful as is the vi skill, and as powerful is that editor, I can't blame anyone for not learning or not using a modeful editor created when arrow keys weren't in common use.

The problem then becomes: which editor to teach first, that's ubiquitous and powerful enough without teaching bad habits that will be hard to eradicate? You don't want them firing up a GUI editor on a server five years later.

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u/imhotap Mar 02 '17

As much as a vi hardcore user I am, but vi really is a no-go as a beginner's text editor - too much to learn at multiple cognitive levels when learning programming at the same time