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Programming, so simple even a child can do it.

© Wayne Dawe

(Note: The Internet is a dynamic place and web sites can come and go quite quickly. This is one of my older and some of the links may not work anymore. If you find that this is the case I invite you to look at some of my more recent articles. My links section has my favorite links from past articles and is checked regularly for non working links. Wayne)

Why should your kid learn to program computers? Why not? A computer running a mindless shoot 'em up game is not better than a TV showing a mindless show. Learning to program gets your kid away from the TV and might help them later on in life in deciding the career path they eventually follow. If they want to blow up evil something-or-others then let them program the game itself.

Logo is a programming language that was originally designed to teach small children programming concepts. Versions of Berkeley Logo for DOS, UNIX and the Macintosh OS can be found at Brian Harvey's homepage. A version of Logo targeted to Microsoft Windows users can be found at MswLogo. If you're curious about what you can do with Logo, Don Sleeth has pages detailing his kids' Logo experiences at Logo - Computer Programming for kids. Don also has Logo programming lessons using Java. Don liked the version of MicroWorld Builder Logo his kids use so much that he's now a dealer for the program. Another page I came across is the one for IntelliBots. This tool/game trains players in the concepts of programming in assembly language as they use their robots to defeat the enemy. Its demoware version (a version of the software that doesn't provide all the features of the full version but can be unlocked with a serial number) can be downloaded from the Intellibot website.

If you have an MS-DOS computer and a version of DOS from before Windows 95 then you most likely have Qbasic installed on your computer. Although it's not very fancy, it does support rudimentary sound and graphic commands and is a good way for someone who thinks Logo is too childish to really get into some "real programming". Follow this link for an article on programming in Qbasic with references to some books with further information.

If your child is a little older and wants to get into serious programming then jump to Java. Java has built-in support for animation and sound and the Java Development Kit is available as a free download from Sun. It's not a

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