Computational Thinking: Programming for kids

I contributed to an article on computer science and programming for Smartbean. Smartbean is a resource for smart parents with even smarter kids. It is aimed at parents that are aiming to augment what their children are learning in school or those that home school their children. I currently work in a school district that has no computer science curriculum; which I find unbelievable given the current adoption of computers.

Bottom line, programming should be used as a means to introduce kids to ways of thinking and problem solving that will be useful to them in many different spheres of human endeavor.

I made sure that the article reflected a difference between open source and free.

In the following sections, we will share with you a list of some good open source and/or free programming environments to introduce kids to the idea of programming.

I also promoted Linux as an ideal environment to learn programming in.

Needless to say, an open source environment such as Linux provides many more opportunities for the serious programmer, so consider providing your child with a Linux machine (even if it just means partitioning an existing Windows or Mac machine), if they wish to go deep.

If you would like to read the rest please go to the full article. My hope is that more schools will introduce computer science and programming as part of their curriculum. It is hard for me to believe that such courses are not required today, but it is reality that many schools do not even have a computer science program and think of computer science in terms of the business department.

Wicked Cool Shell Scripts

Today I received a copy of Wicked Cool Shell Scripts (101 scripts for Linux, Mac OS X, and Unix Systems) by Dave Taylor. As part of my transition from the world of Windows I have decided to learn how to do some shell scripting. I figured that ‘wicked cool’ scripts would stoke my interest in the process as well as teach me the basics and I was right.

Design
The design and format of a book is critical to me. A poorly designed layout will make it either difficult to learn or difficult to use as a reference after the initial reading. This book is very well designed. Every script example is numbered and broken down in to the following sections:

• The Code
• How It Works
• Running the Script
• The Results
• Hacking the Script

This break down makes it both easy to learn and easy to use as a reference.

Content
In addition to a great design this book has tremendous content. There are some very valuable scripts covered in the book; some of the best include:

• #39 Analyzing Disk Usage
• #56 Managing Backups
• #60 Tracking BBC News with Lynx
• #61 Extracting URLs  from a Web Page
• #62 Defining Words Online
• #65 Digging Up Movie Info from IMDb
• #68 Tracking Changes on Web Pages
• #78 Reporting Broken External Links

There were many more interesting examples, but I like the list above. I need to figure out how to ‘hack’ a few of them so I can retrieve NFL scores and stats (Fantasy Football anyone) by the fall.

It is my honest opinion that one should learn shell scripting to truly unlock the power of Linux and this book makes the task of learning both easy and fun. The book would also be valuable to experienced shell hackers who want to look at how these scripts are constructed to improve on their skills. I have two books shelves and this one will be on the one that is within my reach when I am using my computer.