27 May
2016
27 May
'16
6:43 p.m.
On 05/27/2016 02:52 PM, Jay West wrote:
At the risk of being flamed... I'll mention that if the kid is more
visually driven, you might try introducing him to an Arduino Uno or
similar. Something he can see the results of his code in lights and
dials.
One of my fondest memories of my long-deceased father was when he took a
plank of pine and built a 1-tube radio with me. I think it was a 1G4G
(triode). We wound and shellacked the coils. Earphones and A and B
batteries. It was wonderful--and I was hooked.
I don't know if ARM or AVR BASICs are available, but you can purchase
one-board MCUs (like the Maple mini) for next to nothing. I think that
getting that going with BASIC or any other language would be a great
adventure for a young boy.
After all, in a couple of years, he'll be teaching *you* how to use a PC.
--Chuck