When I was in high school I took two semesters of coding (C++, i think) taught by a math teacher who basically just let us teach ourselves out of the book. So basically we played Doom and Unreal Tournament for a year. I did learn enough to, at the time, write some simple programs for D&D, MtG, etc as well as some TI calculator trash. I want to start relearning how to write simple programs in order to help my eight-year-old son experience writing his own programs.

In short, anyone have some good resources for someone to start relearning simple C++ coding?

Should I learn another language if the purpose is also to introduce my son?

I don't have access to windows currently so anything would need to be able to run in OSX or iOS.

Thanks in advance!

Have you seen this? https://code.org/starwars

Might be a good way to introduce the concept of coding to your son

20 hours ago, treybert said:

Have you seen this? https://code.org/starwars

Might be a good way to introduce the concept of coding to your son

I hadn't! Thanks! I think that is an excellent first bridge!

I would highly recommend Codecademy . It's a great resource for learning to code in several different languages and the courses are 1) free and 2) all online so you don't have to have anything installed on your computer except for a web browser. Check out the catalog to see some of the courses, which can differ by subject.

As for what other languages to code in, I would highly recommend Python. Everyone uses it, it's pretty straightforward, it's object oriented, you can do quite a lot with it and it's free! As a plus, if you want to play with it off line, OSX 10.8 and later has Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. You can check out the documentation here .

C++ is quite a bit clunky AFAIK. I guess Python is the hot stuff nowerdays beside that I would recommend Perl cause it is a very basic runs everywhere code that is so similar to C the languages (so a good abse if you want to learns something like Java or Python afterwards.
For Perl I could reccomend the good old 'Learning Perl' by Randal L. Schwartz.

That left aside your question is very hard to answer without knowing what you actually want to code in the end. There are hundrets of languages and the "What should I learn" question without further context tends to end with everyone throwing their favorite dialect in your general direction.

15 hours ago, Nspace said:

I would highly recommend Codecademy . It's a great resource for learning to code in several different languages and the courses are 1) free and 2) all online so you don't have to have anything installed on your computer except for a web browser. Check out the catalog to see some of the courses, which can differ by subject.

As for what other languages to code in, I would highly recommend Python. Everyone uses it, it's pretty straightforward, it's object oriented, you can do quite a lot with it and it's free! As a plus, if you want to play with it off line, OSX 10.8 and later has Python 2.7 pre-installed by Apple. You can check out the documentation here .

I'll check it out!

3 hours ago, Hannes Solo said:

C++ is quite a bit clunky AFAIK. I guess Python is the hot stuff nowerdays beside that I would recommend Perl cause it is a very basic runs everywhere code that is so similar to C the languages (so a good abse if you want to learns something like Java or Python afterwards.
For Perl I could reccomend the good old 'Learning Perl' by Randal L. Schwartz.

That left aside your question is very hard to answer without knowing what you actually want to code in the end. There are hundrets of languages and the "What should I learn" question without further context tends to end with everyone throwing their favorite dialect in your general direction.

C++ being clunky seems to be a prevailing opinion.

I wholeheartedly agree about your last comment as well. I almost deleted the thread once I realized that I couldn't really answer that question. Currently I just want to challenge myself and introduce my son to the concept of coding/programming so he has a greater understanding of what allows devices to do what they do. I like logic puzzles and enjoyed my, albeit limited, previous experience with coding and solving my problems. This is part an intellectual pursuit for me, part desire to better understand the world around me, and part investigating a concept idea I had.

I am involved in improving sideline concussion screening in athletics and EVENTUALLY I might write, or in partnership with a friend, a smartphone/tablet application that would assist parents and coaches in screening for potential concussions, or improve my ability to screen my patients/athletes quickly; but that would be a LONG way down the path if I chose to pursue it. Right now, this is primarily to challenge myself, introduce my son, and play around and see what I come up with.

Another vote from me for Python. It's great for learning and it's actually used a lot in the softfware industry.

You may want to check out codingbat it is a site with programming problems sorted for difficulty. It supports Java and Python and I think it is a nice little toy for getting into coding.

http://codingbat.com