Is This How It Starts?

Somehow, a conversation about the video game belt loop for Scouts turned into an interrogation by the boy about programming. The boy had talked to a fellow Scout, whom had explained that he had to write a video game to earn the award. That seemed fishy to me, since writing a video game is so far from non-trivial as to be all but impossible for the average grade-schooler without some kind of serious assistance. Anyway, the boy got it in his head that he would write a video game to earn the belt loop.

So now he wanted to know “How do you write a video game? What are the codes you need to do it?” I could see that, since his friend had claimed to have written a game, the boy had determined he too could write one. He also seemed to be under the delusion that doing so only required some special number, or something.

I started by explaining that he would need to write code that tells a computer what the rules for his game are.

“But what are the codes?” he wanted to know.

I was deliberately trying to avoid using the term “programming language” because that would open up a whole new can of worms. So I said he’d need to put special lines in a file on the computer.

“Well, how do you put them in a file?”

So then I explained about using an editor. When he asked what that was, I told him it was like what he used to write email in. So naturally, he tried to fire up an email program to start writing some code.

He wasn’t going to be dissuaded, but explaining how to use a programming language to him was something I wasn’t up for. I figured there must be some kind of programming tutorial out there for kids. So I commandeered the computer from him and started searching. It didn’t take long to turn up some options, the most convenient of which looked like something called Scratch. I say it’s convenient because it’s a program designed for kids his age and it’s free to download. While it’s been installed, we haven’t had a chance to play with it yet because karate interfered.

While karate prevented him from diving in and learning how to program, it didn’t stop him from asking questions about programming. After a bit, I finally explained to him about programming languages. That only served to make him more curious. He wanted to know what the languages were like, how they made the computers “do things,” if he had to share his code (already worried about copyrighting and he hasn’t written a line of code!), how other people could play his game, if he had to name his program, how to put words into the program and on and on.

When his martial arts class ended, the first thing he said when we got back in the car was “Dad, I hope you don’t mind answering questions about programming computers because I was wondering something else…” At which point, the questions began anew until we got home.

By the end of it all, the boy understood that writing a computer game was non-trivial. He understood that he’d have to design his game first, and then build the program after that. He was excited to have the Scratch program though, because at least he could try to do a little programming with it. He has a half-day of school tomorrow, so he’s already blocked out his time to spend learning programming. “I won’t be watching TV tomorrow,” he proclaimed.

I remember getting interested in computers and programming at a similar age. But back then, the tools were pretty pathetic, especially when compared with what’s available today. We’ll see if the boy has any aptitude for programming. More importantly, we’ll see if he has any enthusiasm for it. While the former is nice, it’s the latter that would provide the potential for this to prove to be more than another passing fad.