teaching programming to children

[andy at post.tau.ac.il]

A young friend of me (12 years old) has asked me to teach him programming (after
I shortly described my programming job as telling the computer what to do and
not the other way arround). I choose python because I personally like it but I
was wondering to what extent is it appropriate for this task.

a) Its interpreter is very nice but it hides some basic truths about computers.
Namely, the need to compile and the differences between the languages of humans
and languages of computers.

b) Most simple tasks can be achieved so easily that "there's nothing to learn".
What do you think would be our first programming assignments? And what language
constructs should we start with?

c) Should we run to "cool" things (GUI, networking, other proposals?) or should
we first make a good hold of "algorithms" (which in my opinion is at the heart
of programming).

I would be gratefull if people who had a similar experience would told me about
it. Or if someone could refer me to sources and articles.

thanks...

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