Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources AoPS programming?

Has anyone tried SpaceChem for robotics/programming concepts? I got it for DD9, and she seems to be enjoying it, although she plays it in spurts. Actually, I'm finding it pretty addictive, too.

I didn't realize they'd be quite so close, so I appreciate your feedback. I guess if he takes the AoPS class, we should borrow one of those AP Computer Science study guides from the library and see if he could take the test without taking AP CS at school. Definitely good food for thought, and it's nice to start thinking of these things before he has to sign up for (HS) classes next January!

Princeton teaches an introductory computer science course using Java with the textbook "Introduction to Programming in Java" co-authored by Professor Sedgewick http://introcs.cs.princeton.edu/java/home/ . The book has good reviews on Amazon, and the site has lecture slides, assignments, and a Java installer.

I just ordered the Python book recommended above, for DS10 -- I asked the school-allergic boy what he wanted to know (avoiding the "learning" word although I told him if he didn't pick something for the summer, I would pick for him), and he said that something in Minecraft uses Python and he wants to know that. Score!

I looked at AoPS, but at $275 a pop it's just not going to happen. Even if there weren't 35+ people on the waiting lists for both summer classes.

Also trying SpaceChem as recommended above, though I'm not sure if it will be for me, DS or DD.

Fwiw, I don't think much of the Sedgewick book; it has a very un-object-oriented approach which I feel gets people into unnecessarily bad habits. I still recommend it for people who need its very gentle approach, but more generally I prefer Zakhour.

To clarify, as I realize "above" takes in a lot of territory the book I ordered was the Michael Dawson one. I shall post back when we know what we think of it.

Coursera "Introduction to Systematic Program Design - Part 1" looks good.
https://class.coursera.org/programdesign-001/lecture/index

It uses http://www.programbydesign.org/ .

I feel that this is a much needed course - to complement basic memorization of a programming language rules (which is absolutely not sufficient for learning programming).

I'll look more into it, but I am posting now because the course (8 weeks) has already started (2 weeks ago).

There is an option to take this officially (with certificate upon successful completion) - $39.

ETA

The course uses Racket programming language (Lisp family) - a simple language specifically designed for learning programming.

Racket is a 'functional' language, as opposed to 'imperative' (or 'procedural') language. The most widely currently used languages (C++,...) are 'procedural'. It is good to be exposed to 'functional programming' too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_programming .