Shoutout to the kid at the library who was just printing out his first 'Hello World'

I was grabbing a book on Python last week and saw this teenager at the computer lab, so focused on the screen. He printed his code and just stared at the page, smiling. It made me think about how I started with a clunky old IDE and a stack of library books, and now beginners have all these free online courses and forums. I mean, it's way less lonely now. What was the first thing you guys ever got to actually run on a screen?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey7877d ago

Remember seeing that same look on my nephew's face when he got a Minecraft redstone circuit to work. It's everywhere now. Kids figure out the coffee maker timer, they reprogram a toy, they make a silly website. That spark when a system listens to you for the first time, it's not just for coders anymore. We're all getting used to telling machines what to do, and that first "hello world" is the start of it.

river1837d ago

My buddy's daughter spent a whole weekend trying to get a little robot car kit to move. She was about ten, just following the book that came with it. When she finally got the wires right and typed the command, the thing just rolled forward a few inches on the kitchen floor. She screamed and ran around the house showing everyone. That tiny movement was her whole world for a day. It's wild how that first win hooks you.