Is Python The New Basic? ("Python For Kids")

For someone who already knows how to program, Python seems to be very easy to pick up. It's still a tremendously more complex language than BASIC.<p>I help teach an after-school programming class for middle schoolers. Last year, we tried using Python. While some students got the hang of it, many seemed confused and demotivated.<p>This year, I wrote a simple TinyBASIC REPL from scratch[1], aiming to produce the simplest subset of the language that made it possible to do interesting things and illustrate concepts like looping, branching, variables, etc. It was a big hit with the kids, and the whole class has been extremely engaged. As a next step, I've built a Logo[2] implementation so that we can move into writing modular, reusable procedures and play with graphics.<p>Learning to program is almost entirely orthogonal to learning a language, and I think that starting with very small "toy" languages is a good way to approach teaching core concepts without getting lost in the quirks and complex features of popular "real" languages. BASIC is small, Python will never be.<p><pre><code> [1]https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Mako/tree/master/demos/Masica [2]https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Mako/tree/master/demos/Loko</code></pre>

I'd rather take Lua as "The new Basic", since it has a syntax closer to Basic, and it's a simpler language.

There is no new Basic. Computers are massively more complex now and expectations have changed as well with the Internet and tablets and smart phones being what they are. Most first-world kids would be bored out of their minds with Basic.<p>But Python is a fine programming language for beginners. A Raspberry-pi would be another good teaching tool. Processing might be interesting to some kids as well...<p>But there is no new Basic, no new Logo, no new Oregon Trail, no new Math Blasters. Those things belong to a different era.

I tried it as "first language" and it's a freaking pain, I still don't understand the "everything is an object" stuff and why to use modules for everything instead of solving problems with your own code. BASIC is way better for beginner's, especially kids.

The biggest reason BASIC was popular to teach back in the day, is because it is very simple. You are allowed to use GOTO statements which will make (bad) programming a whole lot easier for absolute beginners. On the other hand Python is a well-designed language. It encourages both OOP and FP, and honestly I am not convinced that just because smart people are actively pushing Python to become "the next BASIC", it is going to be very interesting for absolute beginners with little exposure to math and logic.

I wish SmallBASIC (there are two of them! [0] [1]) would catch on (become a household name). Very easy, approachable, and has the same charm as normal BASIC/QBASIC - with regards to the development environment. Perfect for children.<p>[0]: <a href="http://smallbasic.com/" rel="nofollow">http://smallbasic.com/</a> (Microsoft SmallBASIC)<p>[1]: <a href="http://smallbasic.sourceforge.net/" rel="nofollow">http://smallbasic.sourceforge.net/</a> (SmallBASIC - One more basic)

Nothing is, that's the problem.

The one key difference between BASIC and (python lua javascript &#38; etc) has nothing to do with the language at all: modern computers don't boot straight in to a REPL. Anyone who used a C64 more than likely knows a little BASIC, can't say the same for naive Windows or Mac users.

Javascript is.

Where I went to school, they taught Turbo Pascal as the first language, and I thought it was a much better beginner language than Basic.

These days, it seems that when I ask great 20-something-year-old programmers (or whatever term we use) at what age they started to program computers, I the answer is usually 10+. I wonder if it will be the same in 20 years? How young will it go?