How do you introduce someone to programming?

2 points by fz7412 10 years ago | 4 comments

I'm trying to introduce programming to my girlfriend, primarily because it will open much more career options for her. And I want to encourage more women to pursue a career in tech. I don't want her to lose the interest after seeing the learning curve, or become overwhelmed and think it's not meant for her. Do you know of any books for engaging beginner's interest in programming, showing them the beauty of it, giving them the highs without going into detail. Similar to the "Mathematician's lament" by paul lockhart for mathematics and Feynman's lectures for physics. Something that gives them that intial push, that gives them the "feel" of it, that motivation which lights that fire within? Do you suggest any other better way?

musha68k 10 years ago |

Hi there :)

I've had great success with teaching Javascript by being the go-to person to talk about the very well written http://eloquentjavascript.net IMHO Javascript is a great language to get enough bits of instant gratification to be motivated to continue learning.

Merry xmas and have fun pairing :)

fz7412 10 years ago | |

Thanks! I'm myself a javascript developer and was wondering if javascript would be the best language to introduce programming.

ruraljuror 10 years ago |

I used How to Think Like a Computer Scientist[1] in conjunction with MIT's OCW class for non-cs majors. I only did the assigned reading from the class, so I didn't read it straight through, but I think it might be worth checking out. That class is awesome. It is what I would recommend, but I was pretty motivated.

[1] http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html

[2] http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

fz7412 10 years ago | |

Thanks! They seem interesting!