When I was in the 6th or 7th grade, I took a class in Logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) and I was hooked. BTW - this was one of the best things I have ever done in my life and I suggest anyone with kids to enroll them in some sort of introductory programming or computing class.
My parents later got me a Commodore 64. There used to be books that you could buy that was filled with programs that you could type into the Commodore. I would type away and eventually run the programs. Some would work, some would fail.
I remember Radio Shack used to sell a Tandy computer that they displayed in front of their store. Whenever my parents took me to the mall, first thing I would do would be to write a simple infinite loop on the machine and run it. Later I would see if the employees at the store figured out how to stop my little script.
10 CLS
20 ? "Hello!!!!!"
30 GOTO 20
For some reason, I stopped playing with computers or technology for a while after that.
I am much older now and I have been getting the itch to program again. Did some research and looking at doing some Python programming to get my feet wet.
Here is the thing though -
I have always looked at programming as a structured thing. But if it is so structured, why aren't there a set of projects that all programmers do that test your ability to write in each type of language? We all know that the first thing you create is a "Hello World!" program but what is next? Game of Life? Connect Four? And what program would be the holy grail of programs that (if you reach that level) defines you as a master of that language?
Anyway, if I'm not embarrassed by my progress, I will post what I learn here.
I urge anyone who touches a computer to understand programming. Visit http://www.code.org for information about programming.
