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Teaching Ruby

Teaching Ruby. Helping Jake and Jane learn to program Bruce Scharlau. Jake and Jane want to learn to program computers. Jake has a game in mind, Jane wants the basics. Is it better to teach programming wrapped around a game, or not?. Games need to focus on the basics.

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Teaching Ruby

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  1. Teaching Ruby Helping Jake and Jane learn to program Bruce Scharlau

  2. Jake and Jane want to learn to program computers

  3. Jake has a game in mind, Jane wants the basics

  4. Is it better to teach programming wrapped around a game, or not?

  5. Games need to focus on the basics

  6. Teach the basics using game concepts to aid learning

  7. Teach the basics with emphasis on games

  8. Jake wants to realize his idea

  9. Jake has an idea for web based game

  10. Scratch and Greenfoot don’t help http://scratch.mit.edu/ http://www.greenfoot.org/

  11. RailsBridge points the way http://railsbridge.org/

  12. Focusing on the game will motivate him

  13. Build up Jake’s learning based on game needs

  14. Learn what’s needed as a problem solving skill

  15. See each step in context of the game

  16. Use game features to guide learning

  17. Shoes islightweight and easy to start http://github.com/shoes/shoes

  18. Shoes is not always easy to follow

  19. What if we teach programming concepts with game examples?

  20. Jane wants to learn to program

  21. The Teaching Children site helps http://teachingkids.railsbridge.org/

  22. Chris Pine’s ‘learn to program’ is useful http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/

  23. Hello World! Is great, but python based http://www.manning.com/sande/

  24. Jane is interested in ‘coding’

  25. Jane wants to master the concepts

  26. Jane wants the general CS degree

  27. Jane has no specific plans for her need

  28. Jane can be guided by general concepts

  29. The number of ruby books grows http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9 http://book.rubylearning.org/ http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529864 Others being done as we speak …

  30. Most ruby ‘learning’ books assume programming knowledge These are not the books you’re looking for…

  31. Jake and Jane need process to be more fun

  32. We need a compromise between the two

  33. Maybe we need ‘hello world’ in ruby and ‘redfoot’ for ruby objects http://www.greenfoot.org/

  34. Jake’s fixed idea is useful for focus

  35. Games provide program interaction

  36. Console apps cause problems but are needed for interaction

  37. Console apps are also ugly

  38. Shoes and similar GUI tools help, but can be challenging for beginners http://github.com/shoes/shoes http://limelight.8thlight.com/

  39. Plenty of effort underway to provide beginner learning experiences http://testfirst.org/ http://teachingkids.railsbridge.org/ http://github.com/ultrasaurus/dusty-attic using Sinatra for Zork type game http://github.com/ultrasaurus Sarah Allen has a lot of useful examples and ideas

  40. Games provide the ’x’ to do ‘y’ aspect

  41. Games force need and curiosity helps

  42. Games also introduce logic and flow

  43. Games also bring in visual aspects, which might not be needed

  44. Is is better to have a ‘reason’ for learning, or just learn ‘games’?

  45. Build up Jake’s learning based on game needs

  46. Teach Jane programming using games seems better

  47. Use games to realise their potential

  48. All images provided by Niall Benvie at http://www.ImagesFromTheEdge.comhttp://niallbenvie.churchilljohnson.co.uk/blog/ http://www.ilcp.com/index.php?cid=usrs&port=nbenvie

  49. Learn the basics wrapped around games Bruce Scharlau University of Aberdeen b.scharlau@abdn.ac.uk http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~bscharla @scharlau http://github.com/scharlau/RubyBasics/

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