Learning Computer Programming

My second child, Elmer, has expressed interest in computer programming and wants to take such a course in College. This is a change from his earlier I want to be a pilot aspiration. Anyway, I need to do something to sustain his interest. I thought of giving him reading materials on programming languages. But which one? Java? C++? C#? PHP? Python? Ruby? The problem is there are too many of them. In a couple of years, a new language might come along and might even become the one to learn.

I was talking to Lynne about this and told her that I wish I can find a book which discusses the basics of programming without referring to a particular language. I am referring to concepts like variables, operators, decisions and loops, functions and function calls, arrays, records, recursion, etc., which are implemented in any programming language. I even thought of preparing such a material if I cannot find any.

Well, I did find such a book -- Learning Computer Programming, by Mary Farrell. It gives an introduction to the common elements of programming. Here's the Book Description entry from Amazon.com:

As part of the CyberRookies series, this book is written for aspiring programmers, and teaches basic programming skills that can be easily applied to any language, including the key concepts of Loops, Strings, Array, Pointers, and more. Written by a high school programming teacher, Learning Computer Programming emphasizes the most relevant topics for beginners and pinpoints the essentials of programming success. There are so many programming languages in use today that it's difficult to decide which one to learn, especially for beginning programmers. With this in mind, Learning Computer Programming: It's Not About Languages focuses on programming skills instead of specific languages. Languages will always change so to become an effective programmer, it's important to understand the fundamentals before tackling a specific language. The book is language independent and uses examples from a variety of languages including the most popular C++, JAVA, and HTML, which each have a chapter devoted to them. Using helpful hints, activities, and watchouts, the book gently guides the student through the maze of programming techniques, concepts, and pitfalls.

I have asked Elmer to read on his own, take note of difficult concepts, and answer the included exercises. I will do the same and we will then compare notes. We'll see what happens.