Synopses & Reviews
"Computer programming is a powerful tool for children to 'learn learning,' that is, to learn the skills of thinking and problem-solving...Children who engage in programming transfer that kind of learning to other things."--Nicholas Negroponte, the man behind the One Laptop Per Child project that hopes to put a computer in the hands of every child on earth, January 2008
Your computer won't respond when you yell at it. Why not learn to talk to your computer in its own language? Whether you want to write games, start a business, or you're just curious, learning to program is a great place to start. Plus, programming is fun!
Hello World! provides a gentle but thorough introduction to the world of computer programming. It's written in language a 12-year-old can follow, but anyone who wants to learn how to program a computer can use it. Even adults. Written by Warren Sande and his son, Carter, and reviewed by professional educators, this book is kid-tested and parent-approved.
You don't need to know anything about programming to use the book. But you should know the basics of using a computer--e-mail, surfing the web, listening to music, and so forth. If you can start a program and save a file, you should have no trouble using this book.
Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.
Synopsis
"Computer Programming for Kids" gives kids--or anyone who wants to learn programming from a fresh perspective - a gentle but thorough introduction to the world of computer programming. This book uses the Python language, a free, open source language which is ideal as a teaching tool. Python was chosen because it is easy to learn, free, and compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. Python is also the base language for the "One Laptop per Child" program. This book covers all the basic concepts of computer programming, and applies them to fun, interesting topics like, computer graphics, game programming, and simulations. It is aimed at kids, but anyone who wants to learn how to program a computer can use it. You don't need to know anything about programming to use the book. Just a normal user-level familiarity with how to use a computer is enough to learn from this book. You can use the book to easily learn to interact with the computer on a programming level. This book can be used at home or in a classroom setting. There is nothing like it currently on the market.
Synopsis
Scratch is a graphical programming language from MIT's Media Lab that's designed especially for young people. Students control graphics, music, and more by snapping together blocks, much like LEGO bricks or pieces of a puzzle, dragging-and-dropping blocks to create programs. Scratch is used in many schools to teach kids the basics of programming in a novel and fun way, and the Scratch website alone showcases over 1,000,000 Scratch projects. The Book of Scratch is a full-color, illustrated guide to programming with Scratch that teaches kids how to make cool projects, like joke-telling sock puppets and a car racing game. Young people can use Scratch's intuitive, graphical interface to create or tweak interactive stories, games, animations, music, and art. Each chapter takes the reader through a game or other project that teaches a key programming concept, like variables, message passing, and loops. As kids work through projects like a side-scrolling octopus adventure and interactive versions of classic games like Rock, Paper, Scissors, they learn programming by doing.
Synopsis
Artists have always explored new media, and computer-based artists are no exception. Generative art, an emerging technique where print or onscreen images are created by use of computer algorithms, finds the artistic intersection between programming, computer graphics, and individual expression.
Generative Art presents both the technique and the beauty of algorithmic art. In it, you'll find dozens of high-quality examples of generative art, along with the specific programmatic steps author and artist Matt Pearson followed to create each unique piece. The book includes concise tutorials for each of the technical components required to create the book's examples, and it offers countless suggestions for how you can combine and reuse the various techniques to create your own works.
About the Author
Warren Sande is an Electronic Systems Engineer who uses Python as his favorite "do anything" scripting language at work, and also uses it to help teach people about computers and programming. He holds a degree in Electronic Systems Engineering from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, as well as a Diploma in Communication Arts from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Carter Sande is a middle school student who currently enjoys writing games for retro consoles like the Gameboy Advance. When he's not fixing his school's computer network and helping his classmates recover lost homework, he spends his time writing computer programs, riding his bike, and playing video games.