I came across a couple of great resources for teaching programming over the past week, and I thought I would share them with you.
The second programming resource was the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This is a new 
charity that is developing an ultra-low-cost computer, for use in teaching computer programming to children. The charity’s initial aim is to distribute an ARM Linux box for $25. Yes, $25! The charity was setup by a number of developers who had initially cut their teeth coding on BBC Micro computers, and who despaired at the teaching of programming in UK schools. It is certainly more affordable than the latest geek chic toy, Arduino.
I’m pretty excited about the future of programming. Whilst there may be currently a lack of developers in Northern Ireland, and the current scheme to encourage children here to consider a career in IT is poor, resources like TKP and Raspberry Pi are great ways to encourage kids to develop an interest in programming as a career. Coupled with the One Laptop Per Child initiative, I can see a whole new generation of programmers coming into being. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if many children from Northern Ireland will be part of it.
Those are cool projects. I especially like the look of the Raspberry Pi one. $25 arm box? Sweet! Hadn't heard of that at all. I think anything that encourages kids to start programming early can only be a good thing. That wasn't so common for my generation although I do have fond memories of learning basic programming on a BBC micro. Nostalgia really. I'm sure I still have my Commodore 64 lying somewhere. Don't think I could ever bring myself to dump a piece of history like that.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Northern Ireland goes for the IT industry I agree that we might be having our moment in the sun. It'd be a shame if that were so but that's just the nature of our industry isn't it? Comes and goes. Makes Northern Ireland a good place to be a software developer right now anyway.