Michael Kohl

rails has the concept of app templates, so you can create this for yourself. here's one step-by-step example: https://citizen428.net/blog/rails-quick-tips-5-create-apps-from-templa… there are also repositories, like https://railsbytes.com/, where you can peruse similarly pre-composed app templates of varying quality.

I bookmarked this on my Chrome. I guess I found it via HN. 30 Free Programming eBooks: http://citizen428.net/blog/2010/08/12/30-free-programming-ebooks/

Upon doing some more research and compiling a list of things to go through I've found the following: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science… http://manwithcode.com/299/making-games-with-ruby-ep-1-intro/ http://learn.knockoutjs.com/#/?tutorial=intro http://peepcode.com/ http://railsforzombies.org/ http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ http://citizen428.net/blog/2010/08/12/30-free-programming-ebooks/ http://www.trybloc.com/courses/ruby-warrior/chapters/beginner#/1 and I've completed: http://tryruby.org/levels/1/challenges/1 - just for those interested in the progress I've made so far

I put together a website collecting links to various programming languages/environments specifically targeting children (if anybody wants to make a prettier stylesheet for it, let me know): http://www.happynerds.net/ Generally I'd advise starting with something interactive and fun, like eToys or Mindstorms. After that a project like Hackety Hack, Löve or Processing might be a good bridge into more "serious" programming. Some people also seem to like the HTML and JavaScript approach, because the development environment (a browser) is available virtually everywhere and it has a very short feedback cycle. I'm not too convinced of that, but YMMV. Once your kid has the basics down, possibilities are almost endless. There's a plethora of freely available books (legally), of which I compiled a small subset here: http://citizen428.net/archives/434 I'm also involved in teaching Ruby courses on RubyLearning.org, and while definitely not targeted at 10 year olds, our core Ruby course should be doable for a motivated teenager willing to learn. Whatever you do, I think the most important thing is to focus on the fun. If kids enjoy what they do, they can learn super fast and will happily come back for more :-)