Chapter 3
Figuring Out Programming Languages
IN THIS CHAPTER
Free languages for tots and kids
Free languages for youth and tweens
Free languages for teens and older
Other awesome (not-so-free) languages
A programming language is the tool your kid uses to write code. A programming environment is the “place” (the interface on the computer) where your kid actually creates his code. Most programming languages look like a subset of the words, numbers, and symbols that exist in everyday written, human languages. In the same way that your child prints a sentence or solves a math problem on a piece of paper, the words and symbols he uses represent the language and the paper represents the environment.
Programming languages are called high-level because they allow human beings to use already familiar words to communicate with the computer. You may already know that the computer doesn’t speak in a human language. A computer uses switches (similar to light switches in your house), set to off and on positions, to write and read information. Those off and on positions are represented by a special ...
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