[TriLUG] How young is too young for linux-ish training?

David Both dboth at millennium-technology.com
Wed Aug 31 11:29:27 EDT 2011


I was in IBM when my son at age 11 or 12 started getting interested in my 
original IBM PC. I showed him a few things and he showed me a few.

I started writing a little game for him in BASIC. I told him to try it out and 
before I had left the room he had broken it using a keystroke combo I had not 
expected. :-0

He then went on to write programming articles for a now defunct PC magazine and 
got paid $50 per article for it. I saved those magazines and gave them to him 
about 10 years ago. His wife got a hoot out of them, too.

By the way, Joe, my direct emails to you are not getting through.

++++++++++++++++

    ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<jmack at wm7d.net>
     (reason: 553 5.7.1<rrcs-24-199-159-58.midsouth.biz.rr.com[24.199.159.58]>: 
Client host rejected: AUTO_DYNAMIC_ID_PATTERN_DOT_DASH Email Rejected.)

    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mx1.wm7d.net.:

>>> DATA
<<<  553 5.7.1<rrcs-24-199-159-58.midsouth.biz.rr.com[24.199.159.58]>: Client 
host rejected: AUTO_DYNAMIC_ID_PATTERN_DOT_DASH Email Rejected.
550 5.1.1<jmack at wm7d.net>... User unknown
<<<  554 5.5.1 Error: no valid recipients


++++++++++++



On 08/31/2011 08:38 AM, Joseph Mack NA3T wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Aug 2011, Paul G. Szabady wrote:
>
>> I would love to begin teaching him some basic html or maybe even some basic
>> programming, but I'm stumped.  How and where to begin?  Has anyone ever run
>> into this type of issue before?
>
> just about all of us on this list must have been like this when we were kids.
> None of our parents had any idea about what we were interested in.
>
>> And/Or does anyone have any suggestions on where to begin?
>
> anywhere, it doesn't matter where. blunder away. Be prepared to not now know
> what you're doing. How many fathers who become soccer coaches for young kids
> know anything about soccer? The kid will figure out what works and what
> doesn't and will be glad of the bits that work. Go learn html yourself, if you
> don't know it. Then teach him python. Anyone on this list is capable of
> learning python to a level that will keep a young kid entertained. By the time
> he wants to learn more, you will have learned django, or he will have figured
> out how to learn it himself.
>
>> I don't want to push him into something that would cause resentment.
>
> banging on Dad for a year to show him how to make a webpage doesn't sound like
> pushing to me.
>
>> If there's a way to "learn" together, I would love to have special
>> papa/grandson time if there are any classes that we could attend.
>
> Your job is to provide resources, whether it be a book or a person to talk to.
> You can teach him, but that's not neccessarily your job. You might serve
> better by getting out of the way and pointing him in the right direction. I
> learned electronics and ham radio when I was a kid from an engineer at the
> local TV station. who my mother found through her tennis club.
>
> Joe
>

-- 


*********************************************************
David P. Both, RHCE
Millennium Technology Consulting LLC
919-389-8678

dboth at millennium-technology.com

www.millennium-technology.com
www.databook.bz - Home of the DataBook for Linux
DataBook is a Registered Trademark of David Both



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