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Re: Forth for Kids

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On Thursday, April 30, 2009 8:40:32 AM UTC-7, Jeff M. wrote:
> I saw no practical use to them at
> all. I think it's very important - at all ages, when learning anything
> - to see a glimmer of light through the tunnel: a goal that you are
> reaching towards. At that age, I was praying to grow up and program
> video games. Dumping asterisks to the display certainly didn't feel
> like it was guiding me along that path.

Grow up AND program video games??? Who really cares about video games past their teens? Also, Andreas said that websites are what it is all about --- but actually, websites are all just fluff and nonsense, with little or no practical value. When I was a senior in high-school, I taught a class in Logo to junior-high-school kids --- Logo is actually rather dull too --- it is somewhat interesting to write recursive programs that generate repetitive graphical images, but the images aren't pretty enough that anybody would consider them to be art (not even art worthy of the refrigerator door).

Actually, pretty much everything that people do with desktop computers is dull, because you are chained to your desk --- sitting at a desk all day is a big part of why school is boring, and kids don't want to sit at a desk on their free time.

I think that Dirk's suggestion is best --- that kids could get interested in Forth within the context of a micro-controller (the MSP430). The micro-controller could be used out in the real-world --- the "real-world" being defined as pretty much anywhere other than the classroom.

At the high-school where I went, vo-ag (vocational agriculture) was the big deal. The vo-ag department got most of the budget. The only personal computer in the school (an Apple II) belonged to the vo-ag department. Other than spreadsheets, a personal computer isn't very useful for vo-ag anyway. A micro-controller however, would find a lot of use.

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Re: Forth for Kids hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2013-05-14 00:45 -0700
  Re: Forth for Kids Doug Hoffman <glidedog@gmail.com> - 2013-05-14 06:30 -0400
  Re: Forth for Kids "Paul E. Bennett" <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2013-05-14 19:25 +0100
    Re: Forth for Kids visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2013-05-14 15:32 -0700
  Re: Forth for Kids lynx <rinkasu@kaze.void.null> - 2013-05-14 18:29 +0000
    Re: Forth for Kids Pablo Hugo Reda <pabloreda@gmail.com> - 2013-05-14 13:42 -0700
    Re: Forth for Kids hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2013-05-14 18:37 -0700
      Re: Forth for Kids lynx <rinkasu@kaze.void.null> - 2013-05-15 03:43 +0000

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