Tag: Journal

Since the last post on computer programming with kids, I've looked at three sofware packages that help you develop apps for Android or iOS: Kivy, Gideros, and Corona SDK. My first impressions follow. Of the three, Kivy is the least user friendly. I'll have to investigate further to find out how the code differs from the Lua programs, but it sure looks less inviting. There is no real user interface. You write up your code in Notepad, then execute it to see what you've got. This could be really awesome if it looked more like Gideros Mobile.

In the weeks since my oldest child began to use Alice, I have bought an Arduino and talked a lot about making and programming robots. This activity and discussion about microcontrollers is positively influencing the older two kids' interests in programming and electronics. Just last night, we pulled apart two old disk drives to see what we could salvage from them. We ended up keeping a couple motors, an LED, and lots of tiny screws that might come in handy one day. Today, they wanted me to hook up the Arduino and make some LEDs light up. There is opportunity to be seized here! Now that my daughter has finished her science presentation, I have a feeling that she is ready to move on from Alice. Today, I looked into several computer programming languages to find one that could be good for her to start off with.