Principles for Programming Languages for Learners
I&#x27;ve been teaching kids to code for 19 years now, and I still make them do it the hard way.<p>Just two days ago this year&#x27;s crop of 83 students wrote their first Java programs in Notepad and compiled and ran it from the command-line.<p>And I have a waiting list to get into my class.<p>I do work with older students (aged 14-18) and the key is TREMENDOUS support. I&#x27;ll happily show them the command-line stuff over and over again for a month if need be.<p>And my curriculum goes through the basics of Java <i>very</i> slowly. As I&#x27;ve said on HN before, I make my students code FizzBuzz, but they will have literally done 106 complete programming projects before it.