Another Fledgling Lisper

My daughter Gabrielle is joining the ranks of the Lisperati!

I have three daughters, and they are phenomenal - see for yourself:

All three take honors courses; and instead of encouraging them to do extracurricular activities, I feel like I need to stop them from doing too much.

They're independant, though; so its best to let them follow their own path.

After I've scouted it out, of course.

Guess Where Gabby's Path is Leading Her?

Towards AP Computer Science, starting next fall!

I feel like I drank a glass of Christmas, spiked with my birthday!

She's concerned that Computer Science will be difficult, and asked me to help her learn programming. So, I told her about Racket and segued into the power of Lisp - and she mentioned that she had heard Ruby was cool, and she would like to learn how to code in Ruby.

Waylaid by the Orcs of the Ruby Gem!

Ruby is cool; I'm not going to dis it. I wrote some Ruby code today, as part of my job. And I'll write some tomorrow, and I'll enjoy it - there are far worse things in life than coding in the cool kids' lingua franca. Like cleaning toilets, or being mauled by a grizzly bear, or writing javascript.

It seems that Ruby on Rails is one reason that Ruby was suggested as a first language for Gabby. Another reason is that Ruby programmers are in demand.

Two Roads Diverged in a Wood

However, Gabby stated that she would like to code games, and I know that she doesn't need to accomodate today's job market. It makes more sense for her to learn a language that gets her past the syntax and into core computer science and programming concepts quickly and easily.

Perhaps a programming language that is dead simple to install, and comes with an integrated editor and REPL? With an amazing community and a fantastic book that teaches you how to program, one game at a time?

After our initial impasse, Gabby and I reached an understanding - we'll start doing two sessions a week, starting in 2 weeks (she's got to get through the ACT exam first).

And I ordered her a copy of Realm of Racket :)

Gabby Chose the Path to Racket!

She can still learn Ruby after she gets a handle on Lisp, but that might be like going back to high school after she graduates college.

Gabby is competitive, and her sister Ariel is several chapters ahead of her - so this could get interesting.