On 11/11/06, Dr. Scott S. Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
How do I pry my boys away from puff games on the net and the x-box and playstation and convince them they could be writing the programs on those platforms instead of just playing them?
I think I may be somewhat of an anomaly on this list in that I didn't start programming until I was 23. However, I think the seeds for that were planted when I was quite young. Instead of giving in to my incessant pleading and begging back when the first Nintendo came out, we had Legos and an Erector set. Then when we had a computer (a Commodore 64 and later an Apple IIgs) the kind of games my dad got me into playing were the problem-solving type (an old FRPG called Questron and its sequel Questron II, and the orginal Bard's Tale games). So despite the fact that I didn't learn to program until 3 years ago, at a young age I got hooked on solving problems and building things and figuring out how stuff works. As for you boys, I don't know what exact games they play, but it may just begin with a shift from mindless "blow away everything I see" games to the more problem solving type. Get a kit to build something and have them help you, so they can begin to see that finished products have a process and that things work because of how they are put together. Just a thought though, since I don't have kids. Good luck -- Alex Esplin /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
