The Book
Title: Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners
Authors: Warren D. Sande and Carter Sande
Publishers: Manning Publications
Review
As I reviewed couple of Manning books earlier, they contacted me recently to find out whether I was interested in reading this book and provide feedback. I was not sure at that point. Later on I read somewhere that a dad and his 12-year old son have written this book, and that too using Python to explain the concepts of programming. So that background tempted me into reading this book.
I’m here to report that I do not regret that decision. In fact, I’ve enjoyed the entertaining narration of the book. Concentrating on the fundamentals of a programming language is essential, especially if you are about to begin learning the art of programming. The authors did a great job explaining the basics in simple terms.
After hearing rave reviews about Python, couple of months ago, I’ve ventured into learning it. I started to appreciate the beauty of the language. Python as a language of choice is a great one, that too if you are learning your first programming language. Python, in my opinion, is an easy to learn language relatively speaking. Authors made a great choice and introduced the concepts in a systematic way — variables, Math functions, decisions, looping, lists, functions, objects, modules.
As a kid or an adult beginner you don’t want a book to overwhelm you with lofty jargon. What you need is a book that keeps you interested just enough so that you can learn the concepts, play with the language, and take out any fear you may have about programming. This book, I think, succeeds in doing just that.
Every chapter has got some assignment questions. A nice way to learn a programming language; learn the concepts and test your knowledge. Although I’m not a big fan of games, children would certainly love to learn a language and develop their own games. They can certainly take clues from the gaming examples provided in the book. Drawing, animation, sounds and events are all covered.
As this book is meant for beginners it doesn’t cover topics that a more advanced user would otherwise like to see. It would not be fair to compare this book with a book like Learning Python (O’Reilly).
Last but not the least, illustrations in the book are really nice and will also play a major part through out the book and provide some interesting tidbits. I have no hesitation to say that this book would be a perfect gift for any 12-year old (or for any beginner) interested in learning a programming language but doesn’t know where to start.
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