I have a son the same age and I put a computer in his room that runs Linux and dual boots with Windows but I told him Windows is mainly for noobs so he shouldn't use it! >:)
Funnily enough, the thing that got him interested was the simple bash shell. "This is how you can learn to hack computers!" I created some fun aliases (cmatrix, lolcat) and mixed them in with some useful ones (netstat, ping, nmap) to show him all the devices connected to the network. I ended up explaining a lot more concepts to him than the last time I tried to teach him raw programming (loops, if statements). I also showed him how to create aliases, simple scripts, etc. The bonus is you can ask what they want to do and sudo apt install it instantly! That power of that alone blew his mind. I also showed him how to "mine bitcoin" (it was just Ethereum Classic but whatever... ;)
They have plenty of time to learn "real" programming, for now you have to give them quick bang for buck. Looking back on it, I think that it's best to just open some pathways to see what piques their interest, I mean learning traditional programming is pretty 80s right? There are so many areas in computing nowadays - networks, digital currency, security that might seem cooler to a 10 year old in 2018.
Oh, and make sure the computer is attached to a mechanical keyboard! My kid loved the feeling and just wanted an excuse to type out commands :)
This reminds me when I knew Linux for the first time. Knowing about the existence of Ubuntu in a magazine prompted me with the urge to install it and use it ASAP. But my father first told me that I have to learn bash before. Well, I learned it first with a live distro, then installed Ubuntu. Ten years later (and a lot of distro hopping) and I'm still using Linux.
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I have a son the same age and I put a computer in his room that runs Linux and dual boots with Windows but I told him Windows is mainly for noobs so he shouldn't use it! >:)
Funnily enough, the thing that got him interested was the simple bash shell. "This is how you can learn to hack computers!" I created some fun aliases (cmatrix, lolcat) and mixed them in with some useful ones (netstat, ping, nmap) to show him all the devices connected to the network. I ended up explaining a lot more concepts to him than the last time I tried to teach him raw programming (loops, if statements). I also showed him how to create aliases, simple scripts, etc. The bonus is you can ask what they want to do and sudo apt install it instantly! That power of that alone blew his mind. I also showed him how to "mine bitcoin" (it was just Ethereum Classic but whatever... ;)
They have plenty of time to learn "real" programming, for now you have to give them quick bang for buck. Looking back on it, I think that it's best to just open some pathways to see what piques their interest, I mean learning traditional programming is pretty 80s right? There are so many areas in computing nowadays - networks, digital currency, security that might seem cooler to a 10 year old in 2018.
Oh, and make sure the computer is attached to a mechanical keyboard! My kid loved the feeling and just wanted an excuse to type out commands :)
This reminds me when I knew Linux for the first time. Knowing about the existence of Ubuntu in a magazine prompted me with the urge to install it and use it ASAP. But my father first told me that I have to learn bash before. Well, I learned it first with a live distro, then installed Ubuntu. Ten years later (and a lot of distro hopping) and I'm still using Linux.