Teaching C# to Jr High Sudent

  • Thread starter Thread starter AirPete
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AirPete

msnews.microsoft.com said:
I am teaching C# to my 11 year old child. One challenge is that all
the C# books I own and that I have seen in bookstores are full of
language that is not easily comprehended by a student at that age.
Can anyone recommend books (or perhaps websites) tuned for younger
audiences?

BTW, its amazing how fast a student can absorb this kind of
information at that age. Lucky them!

Thanks, Bruce
Click to expand...

I would suggest a good reference such as "Applied .NET Framework
Programming" published by MSPress.

- Pete
 
I am teaching C# to my 11 year old child. One challenge is that all the C#
books I own and that I have seen in bookstores are full of language that is
not easily comprehended by a student at that age. Can anyone recommend
books (or perhaps websites) tuned for younger audiences?

BTW, its amazing how fast a student can absorb this kind of information at
that age. Lucky them!

Thanks, Bruce
 
Bruce said:
Pete,

Thanks. I am familiar with that book and I like it.

But I'm hoping to find a book that was literally targetted at a high
school or Junior High level to begin with. Any other suggestions
from anyone?
Click to expand...

It's not specifically for high school students, but the Step by Step series
(also MSPress) has the simplest technical books I can think of.
 
Pete,

Thanks. I am familiar with that book and I like it.

But I'm hoping to find a book that was literally targetted at a high school
or Junior High level to begin with. Any other suggestions from anyone?

cheers, Bruce
 
I agree with Pete. Go with the Step by Step series. Along with probably 20
other C# books, I have OOP Step by Step, ASP.Net with C# Step by Step and
C#/VB Step by Step. They all give pretty decent introductions into their
respective areas.

Dale
 
I use Deitel & Deitel (father & son) textbooks which can
be evaluated on the shelves at Barnes & Noble.
SEE: http://www.deitel.com/

The other day I was astounded by an Intertch Instructor Series
textbook... expensive hardcover but the writing was excellent...

C# and the .NET Platform
Andrew Toelsen, A! Press

Finally, the official 'textbook publishers' often do not sell their
books retail. It would be a good idea to contact that buyer from
a bookstore at a local high school or technical college and ask
them for references.

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET (e-mail address removed)
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

LaGarde StoreFront 5 Affiliate: e-Commerce Solutions
SEE: http://www.storefront.net/default.asp?REFERER=-201499070
 
I don't normally recommend WROX books. But, if you're looking for a good
basic book that has step-by-step examples including screen shots, I'd highly
recommend "Developing C# Windows Software" ISBN 1-86-100737-X.

Unfortunately this book seems to be out of print. It doesn't show up on Wrox
anymore. If you can get your hands on it, I think it would be worthwhile.
 
Actually all the books are too complicated for what you are trying to do
here with a high school or junior high school programmer. There is one new
outstanding book that fits perfectly - Charles Petzold's new book,
"Programming in the Key of C#", which teaches programming to someone
completely new to programming and it uses C# to do it. Its masterfully
written and it assumes no knowledge of programming but not only teaches
these concepts but all the relevant aspects of C#. Highly recommended.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Gentile [C#/.NET MVP]
..NET Blog http://samgentile.com/blog/
MSDN Column:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/bridge.asp
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that others can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 11:22:03 -0800, in the
microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp group, msnews.microsoft.com
said...
I am teaching C# to my 11 year old child. One challenge is that all the C#
books I own and that I have seen in bookstores are full of language that is
not easily comprehended by a student at that age. Can anyone recommend
books (or perhaps websites) tuned for younger audiences?

BTW, its amazing how fast a student can absorb this kind of information at
that age. Lucky them!
Click to expand...

My advice is not to try to dumb down to them. Their capability to reach
up is so great that if they are really motivated they will so quickly
pass you up that it will astound you. Rather, try to help them find
references to what they don't understand. If you can't solve the
problem with references or it doesn't make enough sense that you can
explain it to them, then the book is probably poorly written for any age
level.

Gerald
 
Hi Bruce,

Thank you for posting in the community!

I think your post is an interesting one. The community has provide you much
books recommandation. I think the "Steps by Step" series is suitable for
beginner.
Also, I think "Inside C#" is a good book for C#. :-)

Additionally, if you are interested in .Net Framework related resource, I
think GotDotNet's QuickStart is a good start for your children.
Please refer to:
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/

=================================================
Thank you for your patience and cooperation. If you have any questions or
concerns, please feel free to post it in the group. I am standing by to be
of assistance.

Best regards,
Jeffrey Tan
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
 
msnews.microsoft.com said:
I am teaching C# to my 11 year old child.
Click to expand...

Is this a first programming language (I'd thought I'd better ask)?
You should be at least aware that there are many voices against teaching an
object-oriented language as a first programming language.

This is just one of them:

http://www.idinews.com/procedural.pdf

Just go on

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Java+First+Language

and see all the pro and cons of using Java as a first language.

MIT for years has been using Scheme as the first language for their
CS students and I don't think the OOP "revolution" has changed that.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/
http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=7

Not that I'm advocating F#
http://research.microsoft.com/projects/ilx/fsharp.aspx
it just seems to be a research project at this point.

I just thought you may want to be aware of the controversy.
 
UAError said:
Is this a first programming language (I'd thought I'd better ask)?
You should be at least aware that there are many voices against
teaching an object-oriented language as a first programming language.
Click to expand...

While I agree that teaching OOP first isn't a good idea, C# can be very
"un-OOP" when writing console applications (you don't want to start teaching
Windows programing until later, anyway).
IMO, C# is an ideal first language.

- pete

[snip]
 
AirPete said:
While I agree that teaching OOP first isn't a good idea, C# can be very
"un-OOP" when writing console applications (you don't want to start teaching
Windows programing until later, anyway).
IMO, C# is an ideal first language.

- pete

[snip]
Click to expand...

There in nothing inherently OO about GUI applications,
just like there is nothing un-OO about console applications.
You could actually argue that it easier to learn about OO
in a console application as you are not constantly distracted
from the problem(s) at hand by having
to present to/interact with the user.

The issue here is that learning to program can be hard enough
without having to wrap your head around classes, instances,
interfaces, etc.

C++ is a multi-paradigm language but I don't see any danger
of anyone suggesting that as a first language. By the same token
C# potential "un-OOP"-ness should hardly qualify it as an
ideal first language.

The main issue is that it is difficult to write anything in Java/C#
without OO that doesn't result in "bad" Java/C# code
(eg. every program is a single God Class) or worse, uses
object oriented features in an undesirable way.

Learning to program in an OO-language and ignoring OO develops a
lot of bad habits that have to be un-learned when OO enters the
picture (especially if you are still using only that language)
- or worse leads to the attitude that OO is a waste of time
because it wasn't needed in the past.

There are already enough Java programmers around that know little
of OO and I'm sure the numbers of their C# equivalents are rapidly
growing too.

I haven't seen Petzold's "Programming in the Key of C#" -
maybe he's found a way around it.

Originally BASIC was developed as an entry level language:

<quote>
BASIC (standing for Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)
is a system developed at Dartmouth College in 1964 under the directory
of J. Kemeny and T. Kurtz. It was implemented for the G.E.225. It was
meant to be a very simple language to learn and also one that would
be easy to translate. Furthermore, the designers wished it to be a
stepping-stone for students to learn on of the more powerful languages
such as FORTRAN or ALGOL.
From "Programming languages: History and fundamentals" by Jean E. Sammet.
</quote>

Should that have qualified it to become a mainstream programming
language? - that is another story...

For all I know MIT chose a functional language because it enabled
them to start with a small subset of the language to do something
productive, while it minimized the un-learning/re-learning required
as more features are introduced to the student.

Anyway OO isn't the solution to every problem - sometimes
procedural or functional approaches are more appropriate - so
one should be familiar with all of them; and when you are learning,
why not start with the simplest (just don't stop there).
 
Excellent information below. Thank you. I spent alot of time following
your links and reading the various opinions.

Cheers, Bruce
 
Pete,
I agree with you. On one hand, I'm very glad to have learned about the
arguments against teaching OOP to a beginner. But, with that in mind, I
think I can focus on all the non-OOP (known as "procedural"?) aspects of C#
during the first few months, and then expand later. Only problem is that
any of the textbooks I've seen are not going to follow that paradigm as I
recall, but I'll deal with it.
I'm ready to roll.
Thanks again, Cheers, Bruce
AirPete said:
UAError said:
Is this a first programming language (I'd thought I'd better ask)?
You should be at least aware that there are many voices against
teaching an object-oriented language as a first programming language.
Click to expand...

While I agree that teaching OOP first isn't a good idea, C# can be very
"un-OOP" when writing console applications (you don't want to start teaching
Windows programing until later, anyway).
IMO, C# is an ideal first language.

- pete

[snip]
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Jeffrey, and to everyone else.
I am set and have the info I need.
cheers, Bruce
 
Hi Bruce,

Thanks for your feedback.

I am glad the community's reply makes sense to you.

If you have any further concern, please feel free to tell me, I will help
you. Thanks

Best regards,
Jeffrey Tan
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
 
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