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Ask HN: What to suggest to a 12 year old, who wants to learn App Development?

by Brajeshwar·15y ago·10 comments·view on hn ↗
I got an email from a mother of a 5, seeking advice on what to do for her 12 year old son who wants to learn App Development (iOS or Android). She's from NJ but currently in Eastern Europe. It will be nice to lead her to some meaningful lead, references, et al. Thanking in anticipation.
10 comments
This is very great a 12 year old boy wants to develop a application ..... let me suggest some points first of all developing applications is very challenging n interesting ....There is no end of developments but there are some starts which is very necessary for every developer to learn ...Microsoft provide a free tool kit of their products called Visual Studio 2010 Express Products here is d link to download

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-ed...

where every person without paying.... start making web,desktop & mobile applications for personal use specially kids which is the best part over their is a kids corner where kids learn how to make , design applications and learn basic programming oops concepts with help of videos specially for kids

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/default.aspx

....after all this stuff u start looking deep in open source tech like java n android .....their are lot of free tutorials channel in youtube New boston is one of them and many paid tutorials lynda, video2brain ,nuggets so many.........Thanks

Heard good things about Stanford iPhone courses on iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/institution/stanford/id384228265
These are nice for Android development:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL34F010EEF9D45FB8

He might need to learn some Java first, though. Thenewboston has some nice Java ones, too.

Advise him to learn the concepts on software engineering. Starting with software design using models/diagrams. It's a good way to visualize his app and the overall project. Then, he could move to coding using tutorials available on the web.
That's maybe the best way to drive a 12 year old _AWAY_ from software development. What's really interesting is building stuff and seeing how it runs. When working alone you don't need to design with models/diagrams (heck, you probably don't even need that in a team most of the time). You don't need unit tests or a deployment strategy or a schedule. Just build stuff, have fun and try to learn something.

I know this does not help the original poster. Most books about iPhone/Android development are probably not suited for a 12 year old. Maybe starting from tutorials or little open source apps is a good way: Read the code, try to improve it, see what works. Iterate.

That's why I said "concepts" (not diploma), it's up to him how in-depth and/or hands-on he wants to go. But learning "how app's stuffs work" (the components of the app - design, code, controls/interactions, data) is the foundation on "building" one (that's because I don't believe a one-thingy app an app, like putting a photo on the screen, it gotta be 2 or more stuffs assembled together for me). If he just look inside an app, and he does not know what's the meaning of the "code" (module/library, object), programming, rebuilding/iterating, etc., he won't learn how and why it was built like that. Heck, he would't have any idea what he's looking at! Fundamental concepts, no matter how layman you can teach it to the kid, and having a "clear idea/plan/purpose" are essential before you send him to "just build stuff".

For a kid, drawing boxes of things he would like to put into his app, and seeing how he's going to put them together, is the best way to start an app, and the best way to identify the concepts/skills he needs to learn.

To get you started, I suggest you (or the kid's parents) tell him to draw how his app will look like, all screens (from the home screen to the scoreboard :)) on individual boxes, the size of his iPad/mobile device, then you guys cut them out. Then you link these screens/cut-outs with the navigation controls, for him to understand the flow, and the "big picture" of what's he's building.

These are of course, if you want him to build "something," not just practice/unfinished works that do nothing -- therefore does not contribute to the kid.

(I taught basic Photoshop to kids, 8-12 years old. They were able to compose cool graphics because they understood how to make bitmaps, shapes, texts, layers, blending and effects work together. I didn't underestimate them, they needed to know what the heck they're doing, so I really taught them those things, in the end, we had an unbelievable exhibit! :))

Try a third party framework, like corona for a start. Start making stuff and learn the programming in the process.
Check Scratch (MIT) out at http://scratch.mit.edu/
The same thing you'd advise a 40 year old ;) Also check udemy or lynda.com for some great intro courses
Honestly, This is going to sound slightly mean and unrealistic but I think it would work. I would have them start with Assembly and then dabble with C++. At 12 years old they can dedicate lots of time the concepts. Yeah they might not be deving anything cool right away but it the long run they will be amazing.. So I suggest Assembly, Visual C++ using Visual Studio.