Small Basic Teaches Kids How to Program
After a year in the making, and with very little fanfare, Microsoft last month launched Small Basic, a free programming language aimed at kids. Unlike Scratch and Alice, tools designed for kids to learn programming in a 'codeless' environment, Small Basic is essentially a small version of the BASIC language.
Drawing inspiration from the original BASIC language, but based on the newer .Net Framework, Small Basic consists of three distinct pieces:
The Language
Consists of just 14 keywords, Small Basic is pure imperative code that runs on the .Net Framework.
The Environment
Small Basic's development environment is simple but provides features that professional developers have come to expect from an IDE including Intellisense
Libraries
Small Basic comes with a set of libraries, and allows you to create new libraries or modify existing ones. It also allows third-party libraries to be plugged in.
A comprehensive and easy to read [we tested it on a nine year old], 62 page introduction (PDF) to the language and to programming in general, is available to anyone interested in giving Small Basic a go.
BASIC has undergone many changes since its inception 40 years ago and while its growth has made it more powerful and capable, it has also become almost overwhelming for a beginner. Even though Small Basic is primarily aimed at children, it just may be the ideal way for anyone interested in programming to dip their feet in the water.
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A noble effort by Microsoft. It's a shame they haven't chosen to include a BASIC with their operating systems since Windows 95 :-(
That said, it still seems too complex to me. The language, that is.. by enforcing a very C-like syntax. The number of keywords isn't important - the style is.
IMHO, Hackety Hack is a better alternative: http://hacketyhack.net/ - it works in a similar way, but the language is much improved.
Does it work on a Mac? Their web site doesn't say.
And who's going to use this? Microsoft seriously is wasting time on all these crap. They do something useful.
Plus the syntax is pretty messed up. I'll have to agree with Peter. Not really kid friendly, is it?
Nice! I remember writing games in basic on my Commodore 64 back in the day and loved it. I wish my lazy teen would take an interest in computers. His only interest is AIM.
Jess
www.anolite.echoz.com
A very wise man once told me, "If someone ever so much as reads BASIC code, they will never be able to program in another language as long as they live." BASIC is a terrible language.
I have to agree with Peter on this. It's the syntax that makes it difficult. I'm all for structure in any programming language, but there's a big difference in structure and clutter. This is just cluttered, especially to a kid. Straight-up, unabridged ruby is more kid-friendly than Small Basic (basing this assumption off the fact that my kid is learning the basics of ruby just fine).
This program is too slow. It takes up to 20 seconds for a program to execute (I suppose its compiling) way too long for a kid's attention span.
Hackety Hack takes 1 second (max) which is good except I don't agree about the syntax in Ruby. The keywords are easy, but the way you have to combine things are not.
Example from the interactive Ruby lesson:
1.upto(name.length) do |x|
say "Your name has #{x} letters."
sleep 1
end
I've written free compiler/IDE with a more C/C++ oriented language, just for this purpose. It takes one line of code for "Hello world" and two lines of code to put a graphic on the screen.
See LoseThos
The LoseThos Operating System is a free, open source OS designed for amateur programmers. It features graphics in source code and a far simpler API. The entire operating system is oriented toward programmers and is only 100,000 lines for the Kernel, 64-bit compiler and everything. It's way easier than Linux to tinker with and is blazing fast -- boots in 2 seconds.
Ah!!! Finally we learn where the term 'Script Kiddies' comes from.
When I was in middle school my computer teacher (retired IBM server architecture designer) gave me and my (advanced) classmates lessons in REXX language. This simple programming changed my problem solving ability. While i am not a programmer, I am a financial analyst who uses excel (excessively) and credit that early programming to my success more then my math training.
Microsoft with their BASIC has probably done more to damage the development of the computer industry in America and worldwide than anything else. They've held back generation after generation of promising young software developers by rotting their brains with BASIC. Just say no!
I've wanted to get into programming for a while now, as I think it will help with my current position (software tech support).
The instructions are easy to follow, as I've never programmed before, and so far I'm having fun.
After Small Basic, I might go into C or Python.
Who knows?
My daughter learnt Pascal before going on to C++. I'm pretty sure there is no place for BASIC.
Pretty cool of Microsoft to release this, gonna see if my kid can do anything with this.
I wish I had something like this when I was growing up. I don't know how to code and it's something I wish I could do on my own instead of outsource. It's good to see more computer based training for kids.
Craig
www.budgetpulse.com
I've worked to teach my son elements of programming. I started him with Kids Programming Language (now called Phrogram: http://phrogram.com/). It definitely fits the bill for providing high-level constructs that let kids see results immediately.
What I found frustrating is the number of arcane details you have to teach a child to get them to a point where they can do anything substantial: obscure keywords and function names, declaring variables, indenting and bracketing (the IDE doesn't do it automatically). You'd get so bogged down in these details that the whole exercise became painful.
I think Phrogram would be perfect for a 10-to-11 year old who has some prior exposure to the concepts of programming.
For a true introductory programming experience, try Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/). Kids get even more immediate results than with Phrogram, and they get a gentle introduction to the concepts of variables, conditional execution, and event handling. They can do a lot of fun things without even digging into those complex structures.
I'm glad my parents never made me sit in front of a computer and do that. I'll take the sunshine.
I still think kids should start off with plain ol' C.
Imho, the 62 page introduction is not comprehensible to regular 9-year-olds, rather 12-13-year-olds. I think I was about 15-16, when I started with BASIC back in the day.
Scratch is probably better suited for smaller kids, 8 and up, whereas Alice seems to be aimed chiefly at college kids. [Trackback]
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November 11, 2008 12:46 AM
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Where's my Small Python?
The TI-BASIC I learned on my graphing calculator taught me some really bad habits (GOTO, I'm looking at you)(and commenting)(and indentation)