How Scratch Is Feeding Hacker Values into Young Minds (backchannel.com) 48
Reader mirandakatz writes: It's the 10th anniversary of Scratch, the kids programming language that's become a popular tool for training the next generation of minds in computer science. But as Steven Levy writes at Backchannel, Scratch's real value is how it imparts lessons in sharing, logic, and hackerism: 'A product of the MIT Media Lab, Scratch is steeped in a complicated set of traditions -- everything from educational philosophy to open source activism and the pursuit of artificial life. The underpinnings of this tool subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, convey a set of values through its use... These values include reverence of logic, an unshakeable belief in the power of collaboration, and a celebration of the psychic and tangible rewards of being a maker.'
Flash (Score:4, Informative)
Just tried this out because I was curious. It requires Adobe Flash. Already lost interest, sadly. And it looked kinda cool to tinker with, too!
Re:Flash (Score:5, Funny)
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Scratch has been in the Debian repos for a long time, and doesn't require Flash at all.
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Scratch 1.4 doesn't use Flash or AIR. Actually it is in the ordinary deposits of Debian, so it definitely doesn't depend on proprietary software.
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There is now an Open Source BASIC compiler for PIC controllers [sourceforge.net]. That is a simple and very cheap 8-bit computer.
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I don't get it either.
BASIC was the launching pad for indoctrination for nearly 10 years and offers a lot to the curious mind. Is it clutsy? Sure. Is it effective for 'type and see' exploration? Absolutely.
I'm part of the early second generation of home computers users (early 80's, Apple IIe); so my first exposure as a kid to computers centered around Applesoft BASIC. At 12 or so, I recall a tech minded adult (a teacher, if memory serves) explaining that Apple, Atari and Commodore (the most common syst
"Hacker Values" (Score:2)
Get a load of this bullshit.
You want to teach programming, then teach programming. Don't make it out to be some sort of overarching value system.
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At least Space Nutters are going for something tangible. Even if the tangible thing really amounts to increasing space junk in the debris field.
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Thinly disguised Buddhists, just more of that Eastern Chinese mumbo-jumbo... Watch out for them. They're as crazy as the moonies..
The Buddha taught that if you do not understand something through your own experience, you should just ignore it.
Don't waste your time looking out for it.
Follow the path that you have chosen.
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If you meet the ken on the street, kill him.
[note: Just so nobody thinks I'm endorsing murder, I'm making a joke about a famous zen koan about killing the Buddha, and Ken Thompson. Both references probably will be lost on the young'n's here.]
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Why not both? Here is a great site that teaches programming for free and also provides free philosophy lessons:
http://programming-motherfucke... [programmin...fucker.com]
Please read the Manifesto, it could change your life!
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There is a cleaner version at http://progmofo.com/ [progmofo.com] but it doesn't have the Manifesto, just the programming links.
They sell the T-shirt in different versions, you can get it in ROT13 if you want to be SFW.
Whaat? Oh noo! (Score:1)
Wont someone PLEASE think of the CHILDREN!!!
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
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Scratch is somewhat similar to python, but you stack visual puzzle pieces together to write the "code". Its easy to learn and visually understand basic logical programming. The problem comes in the disconnect between the visual puzzle pieces and the actual lines of code you are generating.
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Let's spawn some daemons at TSR (Score:2)
This just in - UNIX terminology promotes black magic. Windows daemons are called TSRs, which clearly is a Dungeons and Dragons plug, and therefore also black magic. Insidious! Let's pilot a turtle through the maze of kids programming languages, see if maybe we can find a cure for lisp. Seriously, was this post a Scratch plug or some kind of trojan designed to scare middle class conservative parents (or excite their children) and deepen alignment between makers and the left? Did BASIC teach me the moral
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MS-DOS daemons are called TSRs. I don't think the 'terminate and stay resident' system call is present in modern Windows.
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If BASIC is a virus that causes brain damage, Scratch might very well be a disguised Argonaut.
I do think it is useful to have programming languages that are purported to be easy, so that these people will give it a try and find out that it is too hard for them. Anybody who does it and is good at it is going to quickly understand the limitations and move on with no harm done.
And every UNIX gnome knows that black magic is not permitted in userspace. Not even in your favorite daemon.
Scratch is a noble idea, but so limited... (Score:5, Insightful)
I live in Sweden, I've been invited to those so called scratch introductory courses, because I sometimes work as a substitute teacher, and now - Scratch has been introduced to the Swedish learning institution because the government has finally realized we need to get kids to code (which I fully agree with BTW.)
But scratch?
Not sure about that. I tried introducing the kids at my school to Arduino - and they went NUTS with happiness and excitement. Why? Because it was that much cooler. The kids are not idiots, they immediately recognized scratch as some 4 year old pedagogical learning tool made to be a "learning tool" instead of something cool they would actually use in their everyday life. Arduino on the other hand, when they could plug some 2 dollar electrical device into their laptops and code on it, and leave the code on the device to perform interesting functions like sensing light, moving a motor around, checking a switch or displaying something cool on an oled display - now THIS is what got the kids, not that pedagogical "make that flash-like-cat-thing-move-on-the-screen" stuff.
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Thanks for this information.
I'll try it out on my 4 year old granddaughter.
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Scratch for Arduino [arduino.cc]
Wanna be a maker too but wriggling in sand... (Score:2)
I once thought I'd like to be a maker too, but the thought of wriggling through sand (itchy!) and just spending most of my days chasing after the "thump, thump, thump" turned me off.
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Yeah, and once you've read the past and future histories you realize that all that psychic knowledge might not be very fulfilling compared to just huddling in a cave somewhere.
Check out stencyl (Score:2)
dafuq? (Score:2)
"No make things-only consume."
What the unholy hot taint of Beelzabub is wrong with these people?
Code Club/Pi Jams in the UK (Score:2)
We also teach it as part of Raspberry Pi Jams: https://www.raspberrypi.org/ja... [raspberrypi.org] as well as assorted hardware and robotics projects based on the Raspberry PI.
Most of this is volunteer supported. I've just finished a year in a local primary, that's probably 1st to 5th grade in the US sy