Python coding

[Omeletpants]

any good?

 

[Burque]

any good?

Anyone got a mouse? To feed these pythons! #flex

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Ares]

It is a useful scripting language....

Depends what you are trying to do...

Kinda like saying:

Circular saw

Any good?

I mean for what? Cutting lumber? Yes Trimming your nails? No

 

[Omeletpants]

Well, my 6 year old granddaughter is in a Python coding class that has a minimum age requirement of 12. She is off the charts smart. Just wondering if it's good for her to learn this

 

[theOHIOSTATE!]

The best things for her to learn at this age are language if she is indeed brilliant.

Mandarin and Spanish would be my recommendation.

Speaking from experience, it's very important to make sure off the charts kids aren't bored and disengaged in school starting now. Often times the smartest kids aren't the best students and have an unhealthy orientation towards school.

School isn't designed for kids with IQ's over, say, 135....it just isn't. I would also continually challenge her with difficult reading (e.g. NYT articles preselected for a younger person) at around 10-11-12. Math and science actually aren't as important before the age of 12 imho.

Coding would be fine if she enjoys it; as would chess or something like backgammon where fast calculations without a process or much structure are useful and utilized.

Hope the best for your grandchild.

 

[Omeletpants]

The best things for her to learn at this age are language if she is indeed brilliant.

Mandarin and Spanish would be my recommendation.

Speaking from experience, it's very important to make sure off the charts kids aren't bored and disengaged in school starting now. Often times the smartest kids aren't the best students and have an unhealthy orientation towards school.

School isn't designed for kids with IQ's over, say, 135....it just isn't. I would also continually challenge her with difficult reading (e.g. NYT articles preselected for a younger person) at around 10-11-12. Math and science actually aren't as important before the age of 12 imho.

Coding would be fine if she enjoys it; as would chess or something like backgammon where fast calculations without a process or much structure are useful and utilized.

Hope the best for your grandchild.

THanks. She is already fluent in Spanish. I have 3 cute videos of her teaching her dolls in Spanish. She is already part of the Northwestern accelerated STEM program for kids. She took a year of robotic classes and she is the charter member for Toast Masters for kids in her city

When I was 6 I wasnt even potty trained

 

[number51]

When I was 6 I wasnt even potty trained

And now you are back in diapers, the circle of life.

 

[nvanprooyen]

Like Ares said, it really depends on what you're trying to do with it. But overall here's my opinion:

Python is a language that has been growing very quickly in popularity in recent years. You can see that here:

https://stackoverflow.blog/2017/09/06/incredible-growth-python/

In my opinion, there are a few reasons for this. First, it is being taught heavily over other languages in academic settings. Second, data science / machine learning / AI has been exploding, and Python has very good libraries for this kind of work. R is another popular choice in this space. Outside of that, it's also pretty good for building web applications, usually in conjunction with frameworks like Django or Flask.

As noted above, Python is incredibly popular right now. But the technology ecosystem is always changing. Languages and frameworks fall into and out of favor all the time. So by the time your grandaughter is old enough to actually use any of these skills practically, something else will likely have emerged as being the "popular" choice for any given application.

But this doesn't really matter because here is the important takeway: Regardless of language, the most important thing is building an understanding of the core concepts of building software. Each language may have some nuances on how to tackle certain things, differences in syntax, etc...but most of the core fundamentals remain the same. So once you understand those things, moving to other languages is fairly easy.

In short, yes. I think it would be great for her to learn some of this stuff at such a young age. Definitely, skills that could serve her well both academically and professionally down the line.

 

[brett05]

like ares said, it really depends on what you're trying to do with it. But overall here's my opinion:

Python is a language that has been growing very quickly in popularity in recent years. You can see that here:

https://stackoverflow.blog/2017/09/06/incredible-growth-python/

in my opinion, there are a few reasons for this. First, it is being taught heavily over other languages in academic settings. Second, data science / machine learning / ai has been exploding, and python has very good libraries for this kind of work. R is another popular choice in this space. Outside of that, it's also pretty good for building web applications, usually in conjunction with frameworks like django or flask.

As noted above, python is incredibly popular right now. But the technology ecosystem is always changing. Languages and frameworks fall into and out of favor all the time. So by the time your grandaughter is old enough to actually use any of these skills practically, something else will likely have emerged as being the "popular" choice for any given application.

But this doesn't really matter because here is the important takeway: Regardless of language, the most important thing is building an understanding of the core concepts of building software. Each language may have some nuances on how to tackle certain things, differences in syntax, etc...but most of the core fundamentals remain the same. So once you understand those things, moving to other languages is fairly easy.

In short, yes. I think it would be great for her to learn some of this stuff at such a young age. Definitely, skills that could serve her well both academically and professionally down the line.

qft

 

[gpphat]

It is a useful scripting language....

Depends what you are trying to do...

Kinda like saying:

Circular saw

Any good?

I mean for what? Cutting lumber? Yes Trimming your nails? No

I would not suggest a circular saw for trimming your nails or even trimming your pubes.

 

[Burque]

I would not suggest a circular saw for trimming your nails or even trimming your pubes.

I dunno man, there are some people on this board that I would certainly recommend them trimming their pubes with a circular saw. Of course, hoping for the next generation saving slip is a given.

 

[ShiftyDevil]

I think the specific language Omelet's fake granddaughter is learning isn't really that important and it's more that she learns any language. For something object oriented I think C# is a good starting point, but something like Python is perfectly fine. Assuming omelet's definitely-real-actual-genius-granddaughter goes into a career that's in, or adjacent to computer science the first language she learns will largely be moot.

Further, a general background in 'computer stuff' would probably be the better place to start. I was basically computer illiterate when I went to college the first time; I rarely had access to a computer when I was a kid and the single most useful course I took was based around A+ curriculum. So something in that vein might be a good idea.

EDIT: just to clarify I don't think the first language is that important because I think once you learn one language the rest come so much easier. It's really more about adjusting how you look at a problem and developing good strategies around problem solving and self learning about the domain.

EDIT EDIT: Also looking into programming based... uh programs? targeted toward kids might be good. I know Microsoft used to offer stuff around XNA (I believe), so that way the kid is learning and developing something kids generally find interesting (video games).

 

[Crystallas]

Kids gravitate to a direction and then shift gears. Wherever she starts depends on where she naturally grasps the concepts. I think python is the new java and teaches a lot of bad habits that are difficult to break, but anyone who has invested a lot of time in learning python will defend their 'investment' heavily.

So as long as Taco isn't teaching her how to shove balloons in dark places, you're ok. Could be better though, and that's not a troll/snide response. I have strong feelings about certain languages that are forced into the system, and it's a cycle. People will defend it until the level of problems are such an enormous mountain that all these machines get exploited easily, patched to all hell infinitely until the systems are a snail, e-waste a mile high, and unforeseen problems galore. You would think by the 4th time, we learn from history, but like I said, those who invest a lot of time into something will defend that investment. Bias.
I know and use python when needed, and when I can, I replace it with the correct execution level language to match the needs of whatever project. The problems go away, the performance shoots through the roof, the security of the system improves, and patching the software rarely results in performance drops. At whatever pre-teen age, 6 years old or whatever, do you think, no matter how bright and on the curve, it makes a difference? Well, that is the part I am unsure of. Maybe something is better than nothing, mainly because people push and develop fundamentally broken infrastructures due to IP controls, so you at least adhere to a norm of sorts (and I'm not saying to always seek obscurity or underdogs for the sake of punching upwards). But in some, many, cases the real test for anyone is to seek the best long term solution, not just the trendy short term ones. That is the real test, 6 years old or not. And IMHO, Python is the new trendy, for people who wouldn't learn to write a program unless their hands were held the entire time. *I'm aware this is also a segment of the market, and thus why things are the way they are, my point will remain that the norm never changes, we just get Java problems over and over. Only using Java as an example, because no matter the immense level of patching and resource consumption needed to keep up with exploits, it was defended so heavily, and finally in 2017 we see this strong shift to most of those who bought into Java finally start to admit, yeah, we should have developed one of the many existing languages to be easier to use, rather than waste precious life doing so much damn double-work. But if not Java, you can point to VB/ActiveX/Actionscript/Qt(Qt has its place though strictly at the interface level).

C-almost anything is the best starting point.

 

[number51]

my python boot is too tight
I couldn't get it off last night
A week went by, and now it's July
I finally got it off
And my girlfriend cry
"You got stink-foot!
Stink-foot, darlin'
Your stink-foot puts a hurt on my nose!
Stink-foot! Stink-foot! I ain't lyin'
Can you rinse it off, d'you suppose?"