On Mon, Apr 04, 2016 at 07:50:17AM -0400, Daniel Barrett wrote: > > Any suggestions for a birthday present for a 9-year-old budding > software engineer? My nephew has been writing programs on Scratch > (scratch.mit.edu), a programming site for kids, and teaching himself > HTML and CSS. He also loves taking electronics apart and building > stuff, and he blogs about topics like Apple's phone encryption on his > own web site. The little guy has a true passion for this stuff. > > I thought about getting him a Raspberry Pi kit, but I haven't used one > myself and don't know if he could get it working by himself. (His > parents have no background and I live 3000 miles away. Good idea or > not?) I also thought about this book: > > > http://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076 > > but at age 9, maybe books aren't the most exciting gifts? > > Last year, his choice of gift was "computer consulting hours with his > Uncle Dan" (me) by Skype. This year he says, "He can surprise me. I > trust Uncle Dan." Talk about pressure! :-) > > His home computers are all Macs, if that matters. > > Any tips appreciated. Thank you.
It's expensive, but the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 set is an excellent building kit for making robotic devices. It has sensors, motors, and a controller. Several languages are available, including Scratch, Java and C. -dsr- _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
