Programming for Kids (The Course)
This Course is part of the following Tracks:
Course Info
This course includes 30 attempts.
About the Course
For Kids
This course will teach you how to write computer programs!
You will need to use a Mac computer to follow along. The programs are short, so you can type them all in yourself. This is true even if you can't type well.
For Parents
This is a course for you to do with your child, or for your child to do by himself or herself.
It is based on a book which I wrote to teach my 9 year old son the basics of programming. He had been playing video games for years, and he wanted to learn programming since he wanted to make his own video games someday. This course is intended to be the first step. (No, it doesn't teach you how to create the kinds of video games a 9 year old can dream up; that takes a lot more knowledge!)
The reason this course exists is to be the best course in the world for a kid who is wanting to learn to program computers to do first. Computer programming is a good skill to have, regardless of what occupation your child eventually does as an adult. (I'd argue it's much more important than lots of the math than you learn in high school, for example.) But more importantly, learning how to program computers teaches a rigour and discipline of thinking which is useful in any field. This course exists to show kids that they can program computers, and to help them get started.
Course Material
- Lesson 0: Introduction
- For Kids
- For Parents
- Lesson 1: Hello, Command Line!
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 110 attempts allowed
- Lesson 2: Hello World!
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 210 attempts allowed
- Lesson 3: Hello,
irb! - Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 310 attempts allowed
- Lesson 4: Functions
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 410 attempts allowed
- Lesson 5: Programs
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 510 attempts allowed
- Lesson 6: Functions, Part 2
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 610 attempts allowed
- Lesson 7: Characters and Strings
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 710 attempts allowed
- Lesson 8: Variables
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 810 attempts allowed
- Lesson 9: Command Line Input
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 910 attempts allowed
- Lesson 10: Arrays and Looping
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 1010 attempts allowed
- Lesson 11: Files
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 1110 attempts allowed
- Lesson 12: Booleans, If and While
- Material
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 1210 attempts allowed
- Lesson 13: The Spelt Project
- Material
- Section 1: Spelling a Word
- Section 2: Finishing Spelt
- Section 3: Enhancing Spelt
- Exercises
- Quiz
- Quiz 1310 attempts allowed
- Appendices
- About the Author
- About the Cover
- About Leanpub
- Answers to the Exercises
Instructors
Peter Armstrong is the founder and CEO of Leanpub. He has over two decades of experience in software, including eight years as a developer at Silicon Valley startups. He founded Ruboss in 2008, and launched Leanpub in 2010.
Peter coined the term Lean Publishing. Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress book using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do.
Peter is the creator of Markua, the Markdown dialect used on Leanpub. He is the author of a number of books, including Lean Publishing, Aphantasia and Programming for Kids. He has a BSc in Computer Science and Psychology from the University of Victoria, and he and his wife live in Victoria, BC.
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