Re: [school-discuss] programming for junior high

[Yishay Mor <y.mor@ioe.ac.uk>]

If you're looking for an industrial language, I would recommend Java. 
It is easy to learn, easy to accomplish a wide variety of tasks with, 
and fosters a healthy approach to programming (no flames please - 
private opinion here!) .

As for books, Bruce Eckel's books are pretty good.  His "thinking in 
Java" is one of my favourites.  And they are all downloadable for free:
http://mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites

If you're looking at educational languages, I would consider ToonTalk 
(http://www.toontalk.com/). Its not free, but its pretty close to free, 
and you can get a beta licence.  Although originally designed for 
younger children, we're using it with 11 -14 year olds, providing them 
with interesting challenges in modelling mathematical and scientific 
concepts, and teaching them a few sophisticated programming tricks at 
the same time.

best,

- Yishay

Wm.G.McGrath wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Can anyone recommend a good introductory programming book for a boy
> in junior high? Any decent programming language would be good. 
> 	bill
>
>  
--
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