How can a child start programming?

Question

Game development

The son dreams of coding his server in Minecraft. I understand that for his 7 years and lack of any experience in programming, the goal chosen is too cool, but the enthusiasm must be used.
In this connection, I want to ask those who are related to the development of games, which way to achieve this goal (not necessarily Minecraft, but game development in general) to choose?
Does it make sense to practice pseudo-programming on sites like code.org?
And in relation to Minecraft: there is also the opportunity to write scripts in different languages. What to give preference to, what is more promising?
As for me, I will help as much as possible, I know several languages ​​(PHP, C++, C#, Perl, JS, Pascal, Basic :) ), but I don’t like them all :), and I have no idea how games are written now.

Answer 1

There is an opinion that the practical application of any jap ultimately affects the thinking of a person ...
For beginners, the best solution would probably be to master the first - functional jap.
Why functional? Because the functional language does not contain "nothing superfluous" and thus will help to master the essence of algorithms and develop appropriate thinking, i.e. teaches you to think logically.
Summing up the above, it is better for beginner programmers to start by learning one of the functional languages ​​- Haskell or Scala, Lisp ...
And after that you can switch to C (C), which will help you understand many other very important details ...
And having already mastered at the level of jap C , you can switch to other jap (C ++, Java, C # ...)
Yes, and it is also desirable (mandatory) to master English and simultaneously master - Discrete Mathematics.
But given the age of your child (7 years old), you can buy this book:
www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/32092949
And if you are interested in game development (game development), then look here:
https://thequestion.ru/questions/ 205745/chto-uchit...
https://habrahabr.ru/company/miip/blog/313326/
https://habrahabr.ru/post/319582/
https://dou.ua/lenta/articles/gamedev- for-programm...
Well, video:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR4wcBxrUGP...

Answer 2

Let the child take a kind of "first step": find and choose something HIMSELF.

Answer 3

My 10, the makings are, but a couple of my attempts were unsuccessful. I don’t push, I just come up with some kind of move from time to time and try it. For example, I chose simple examples and showed in css + js what you can do ... In this style, in general.
What happened: the Construct2 game engine, and I had it in my bookmarks until my son asked what game engines there were.
I figured it out myself from the lessons, I literally took part in a few moments.
Now he has 6-7 blanks. Small working game pieces.
https://www.scirra.com/construct2
There are mostly algorithms and events, but no direct programming.

Answer 4

Everything has its time. It’s better not to buy literature on programming for your son, but to buy yourself on developmental psychology. Here, a child’s gambling addiction is on the face, he lives in the world of minecraft and wants to somehow realize himself there. This means that he plays this game for a long time, and virtual games are generally contraindicated for children.

Answer 5

Since he loves Minecraft, there is a thematic book “Minecraft. Program your world." Here is a review on Habré: https://habrahabr.ru/company/piter/blog/269757/

Answer 6

Algorithms and tasks for logic are your everything if you want to grow a techie :)
- read, analyze and ask questions to understand the Encyclopedia of Professor Fortran
- we saw the game together in Kodu Game Lab
- it motivates the modder of your favorite games, as the result can be observed immediately and corrected after flight of fancy
ps about the server my IMHO, get bored pretty quickly, as it's better to produce new content that pleases the eye to keep motivated

Answer 7

You need to teach him three things:
1. Algorithms
2. Do not ask non-specific questions and questions in which he is not competent
3. Google
After that, ask the question again, I did not understand what you mean by "code a Minecraft server"...

Answer 8

Study this topic yourself, make a simple server, then divide your development into stages and push (don't do everything for him, just point) in the right direction. If it gets stuck, explain, and then let him do the same.
In no case should you give your child bricks under one and a half thousand pages.
Your goal should be more practical than theoretical, so that the child does everything himself, otherwise he will wallow in the abyss of theory, will not create a server, and even be disappointed in programming as such.
At a minimum, i.e. no need to tell what encapsulation is if you are required to create one simple class.

Answer 9

You can learn the basics in a simple game form. I recommend starting with LightBot.
Well, read more: https://habrahabr.ru/post/251583/
If you master the basics, then there is room for imagination.

Answer 10

In this connection, I want to ask those who are related to the development of games, which way to achieve this goal (not necessarily Minecraft, but game development in general) to choose?

I advise you to start with Unity , because. there are a lot of lessons already on it and visual / visual development gives a greater incentive to anyone than pure code.
Already creating something primitive, willy-nilly, he will automatically learn C # (while in the database, C # is also used in the lion's share of game-dev "engines") and while reading the API - also, willy-nilly, learn technical English.
That is, in terms of coverage of directions and results, Unity has the best balance for beginner game-dev programmers.
Total: [full visual development and the ability to immediately see the result] + [promising PL: C #] + [technical English] + [logic] + [extensive community] = Unity.
Of. lessons in Russian: https://unity3d.com/ru/learn
Game engines(tabular summary from Wikipedia).

Answer 11

Here is a good JAVA course for beginners https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLawfWYMUziZ...
there is also a constructor to understand the basics

Answer 12

I glanced through the answers and did not notice among them amperka.ru/product/tetra-kit
In my opinion, it is difficult to come up with a better option for a child.

Answer 13

Thanks everyone for the replies! Most have tried, but it seems that the child is still too small for all this ...
only interested in a local server with console commands for Minecraft (by the way, is there anything that works on fresh versions?). Well, Scratch seems to have gone well: the instantaneous result and the drawing of sprites with a sound recorder attract.