
	{"id":3268,"date":"2015-01-15T01:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T06:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/?p=3268"},"modified":"2018-07-31T14:11:09","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T18:11:09","slug":"which-computer-programming-language-should-my-child-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/which-computer-programming-language-should-my-child-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Computer Programming Language Should My Child Learn?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blog-image\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/CSlanguage.jpg\" alt=\"After school, weekend and online programs in math and computer science for gifted children who enjoy fun, academic challenges.\" title=\"Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science\" width=\"500\" height=\"343\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3270\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The &quot;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/limitations-of-learn-to-code-mania\/\">learn to code<\/a>&quot; movement has emphasized teaching computer programming to children, and so many parents are asking, &quot;Which language should my child learn?&quot; It&rsquo;s easy to be overwhelmed by the myriad choices: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/parent_apcsoverview.htm\">Java<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/parent_ucs_overview.htm#UCS2\">Python<\/a>, Ruby, C++, Objective-C, and so on. Ten years ago, the list of languages would have been different, but the question would still have been the same. So instead of focusing on learning a particular language that is popular <i>at the moment<\/i> and wondering if it&rsquo;s the &quot;right&quot; choice, consider that your child would benefit most from learning the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/parent_ucs_overview.htm\">fundamental concepts in computer science<\/a> that are applicable across <i>all<\/i> programming languages. Understanding these foundational ideas well enables a person to problem-solve in <i>any<\/i> programming environment more effectively than knowing the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/learn-computer-programming-without-complicated-syntax\/\">rules of syntax<\/a> for <i>one<\/i> particular language. It&rsquo;s a lot like the craft of photography. If you&#8217;ve mastered the fundamentals &mdash; composition, lighting, exposure, etc. &mdash; then you&rsquo;re in a much better position to take memorable photographs regardless of whether you&rsquo;re handed a Canon, an iPhone, or a disposable camera. The same is true in computer science where <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/computational-thinking-for-kids\/\">computational thinking<\/a> and the ability to learn are and always will be <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geekwire.com\/2014\/hr-advice-hire-velocity-learning\/\">more highly valued<\/a> than code manipulation. Besides, by the time your child is a working professional, it&rsquo;s likely that a different set of languages, some not yet invented, will be in vogue. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be better for him or her to have a timeless set of skills and abilities?<\/p>\n<div class=\"after-post\">\n\tPrepare your child to be more than just a &quot;code monkey&quot; with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/parent_csoverview.htm\">online computer science courses<\/a> from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/\">eIMACS<\/a>. Like <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imacs.org\/\">IMACS<\/a> on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eimacs\">Facebook<\/a> for the latest information about our <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imacs.org\/math-computer-science\/after-school-math-enrichment\/\">local classes<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imacs.org\/math-computer-science\/distance-learning\/\">online courses<\/a>.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &quot;learn to code&quot; movement has emphasized teaching computer programming to children, and so many parents are asking, &quot;Which language should my child learn?&quot; It&rsquo;s easy to be overwhelmed by the myriad choices: Java, Python, Ruby, C++, Objective-C, and so on. Ten years ago, the list of languages would have been different, but the question [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ap-computer-science-2","category-computer-programming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eimacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}