Strange Loop

How to teach your kid to code with Hopscotch

Software billionaires like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs all began coding from a young age. Meanwhile the number of US schools teaching computer science has actually declined to under 20% over the last 20 years. But what’s a parent to do? When your kid can barely type how can they possibly hope to get them over the syntax hurdles needed to write anything fun?

Visual programming languages allow children to explore the art of coding without the strict demands of typed languages. In this talk I’ll explain the design considerations for creating a visual language for children. Then I’ll give a demo of Hopscotch, our iPad programming language and share techniques and sample projects to help you start teaching your own kids to code.

Samantha John

Hopscotch Technologies

Samantha figured out she loved programming just in time to learn ruby on rails and skip out on med school. She’s passionate about creating tools to teach people to program- especially those who don’t fit most people’s profile of the “typical” engineer. She started Hopscotch to bring the joy of programming to young people everywhere.