[geeks] Little Kids + Unix

[Jonathan Eisch]

On Tuesday, January 29, 2002, at 09:00 PM, dave at cca.org wrote:

> Getting kid's attention these days is hard. You've gotta
> show them something pretty killer to tempt them away
> from the Windows environment "all their friends run".
I was /sick/ of windows after a couple years of it.  I loved UNIX as 
soon as I started using it.  It didn't take much to get me off windows 
95 and onto an ELC, at 12.  Your mileage may vary.

> Interpreted languages with good graphics primatives are
> a good way to get people interested. Logo, Postscript, etc.
> Creating graphics are good for instant gratification.
> And the "It's a programming language!" thing is a good
> way to get over the "Where's Internet Explorer!?!?" problem.
nothing like "hello world."

> Perhaps creating web pages using plain ol' html and a text
> editor would be good. Gets them to learn the CLI environment
> to manipulate files, and the gratification is there in being
> able to create actual web pages, maybe even stuff their
> friends can access from their (lame) PCs.
I went from doing command line Perl and HTML to making web pages that 
used perl.
Building my own chat page, complete with pictures, replacing ;-) with an 
image and stuff like that was plenty to keep me busy through seventh 
grade.  However, I might note that I also created a part of the program 
that would chat with me if I were the only person logged on.  (kinda 
like emacs elisa, IIRC)  I was doing that when everyone else was playing 
DOOM over a modem on their PCs.

*start goofy rant*

Maybe we should look deeper into this, do you _really_ want to create 
someone who likes programming more than playing nice social games like 
Quake Arena (or whatever it is).  Or someone who, by the time they are a 
senior in high school, has had more UNIX systems than girlfriends?

See, my brother never considered this before he introduced me to UNIX, 
and look what he has created (10 unix systems to 0 girlfriends).  And 
yes, I am still looking for CERNLIB!

But then, perhaps I was destined to geekdom, and my powers were swayed 
to the good side (UNIX) so I didn't turn out like that guy on "Call for 
Help" on TechTV.  Or worse yet, work for Microsoft.

*end goofy rant*

ok, so only half of that was serious, but if anyone knows of a girl in 
central Wisconsin who is turned on by differential SCSI, Type 5 
keyboards and NeXT turbo slabs..... yeah...  Oh, I do have a G4 Cube!

-Jonathan