Show HN: Programming Time - Playing card game to teach your kids Python

203 72 4 years ago

trykondev• 4 years ago

This is so neat! Seems like a really fun game, and I'm also a big fan of the very straightforward & minimal website. Would definitely buy one of the decks you're planning to sell :)

throwaway4729213• 4 years ago

Thanks!

The 300 decks arrived yesterday, and we were super excited with my daughter. Today we played multiple times and its super fun. Even though we played many times when I printed the game on normal a4 paper, having the real professional cards really make a difference.

I plan to also make lisp, c and javascript decks so we can explore more paradigms.

prashnts2• 4 years ago

Just curious if you could share how old is your daughter.

I have tried teaching coding (several approaches, but eventually on Scratch) my 9yo nephew, but ran into many issues. For example, trying to debug a counter, I thought it'd be fun if I asked "hey, what's 7 - 2", and he went "it's 5, duh" and then I went "and what's 2 - 7", ... and he went "that's not possible!"

Turns out his math teacher hasn't yet introduced negative numbers! I had to go back to number line...

Anyway, what you've done is really cool! I'm sure once he's old enough it might prove to be very useful.

block_dagger• 4 years ago

I suggest simplifying the content of the cards. Love this idea!

throwaway4729213• 4 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion, I made those specifically with my daughter, and are tailored to improve her level.

But you are right, in the future I will make decks with different difficulties.

emacsen4• 4 years ago

May I suggest that instead of Python, if the aim is for children, you consider a block based language such as Scratch or MakeCode?

I have a nephew who is ~8 and is doing absolutely amazing with Scratch in his classroom. He's making little mini-games, understanding loops, variables, and he's learning the all-important skill of debugging.

When/if he transitions from a block based programming language to one that's purely textual, I feel like that transition will be smooth based on his existing understanding and skills.

So if the aim is puzzles for kids, having a setting that they are more familiar with, such as blocks, might make it easier.

Just a thought.

graphpercolator• 4 years ago

I don't see the reason for not just doing this as Jupyter notebooks.

I am child free but I just can't see not using Jupyter notebooks.

If I had a kid we would learn jupyter after learning multiplication.

5*7 shift+enter

variable = "hello kid"

variable shift+enter in a new cell.

novaleaf• 4 years ago

Don't simplify. If you want to make some simpler "starter" cards okay, but what you have is great, even for total python beginners, as long as there is a dedicated teacher to help them work through the card.

ghostly_s2• 4 years ago

This may well be an effective way to learn to code but god, it sure doesn't seem like a way to have any fun.

throwaway4729213• 4 years ago

apparently fun is subjective :D

dang4• 4 years ago

Please follow the Show HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html as well as the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. I'm sure you meant no harm, but comments like this have a way of poisoning the culture, especially when they get upvoted to the top of the page, as they often do.

ghostly_s2• 4 years ago

I don't think my comment broke any rules, and I have a hard time taking you seriously when I compare the reality of what goes on here day in day out to the fantasy world of the supposed guidelines.

wmichelin• 4 years ago

"Dad can I please play with my toys?"

"Not until you learn python you little shit"

dang4• 4 years ago

I laughed, but please don't break the guidelines.

https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

freediver3• 4 years ago

Do you read every single comment posted here?

datavirtue• 4 years ago

"When I come back in this room that function better be done!"

My kids hate code.

groovy2shoes• 4 years ago

You had me at "20 sided dice".

dhosek3• 4 years ago

Any dungeon master worth his weight in geldings... goes nowhere without his... 20-sided die.

jrgd• 4 years ago

Simple Efficient Fun

I’m a fan.

whoomp12342• 4 years ago

here we go, right back to punch cards...

ByThyGrace• 4 years ago

playing card game to teach your kids
"Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange"

Just how old and already well-instructed is said daughter I wonder. Certainly not as young and novice (and sparsely attentive) as my ten year-old who's also learning Python. Because he wants to, I should add.

throwaway4729213• 4 years ago

She is almost 11, and some of the cards are very very challenging, and some are impossible for her at the moment, but I just pick the ones who are appropriate for the mood/patience/concentration capacity for the day.

shantnutiwari• 4 years ago

Yeah, going over the RSA algorthim with kids-- maybe other kids are smarter, but Im not sure. I mentored a 16 year old some time ago(python), and also trained young engineers in their 20s-- and just teaching the basics of programming is hard enough without also throwing in crypto algos

notacanofsoda• 4 years ago

Great idea, similar in spirit to spaced repetition. I wonder if the cards can be simplified to reduce the time it takes to solve a card (possibly more fun due to faster reward) but still retain the same level of knowledge.

stonlyb• 4 years ago

Love this and am looking for more ways to teach programing and stem generally without putting my child in front of a screen all the time. Will be starting with shoots and ladders from as early an age as possible. Looking for other tools to fill the gap between shoot and ladders and this, which may take years to bridge together.

littlethrowaway• 4 years ago

Is shoots and ladders the same as "snakes and ladders" ? https://www.amazon.com/HASBRO-GAMING-Chutes-Ladders-Board/dp... is what you're talking about?

dhosek3• 4 years ago

Yes

dhosek3• 4 years ago

Robot Turtles could be a good way to introduce multi-step reasoning. You'll need to be attentive to your kid's developmental level (and don't worry about "other kids." One of the most important things I read was an essay by Keith Gessen in which he related a conversation with his own third-grade teacher who told him that some kids learn to read in kindergarten, some in second grade and in third grade you'd be hard-pressed to tell them apart. As a father of twins who learned to read at different ages, I can verify that this is very true) and be prepared to put things aside for months or years as necessary. And there are some pretty good screen-based things a well (I was a little startled to look at my second-grader son who was hypnotized with his iPad while I was working and mom was busy and saw him casually doing some basic algebra problems out of his own volition—although I am quick to admit that there's plenty of Minecraft time too).

shitloadofbooks• 4 years ago

There's a typo on the ghost card:

    Roll the dice until your door is different __form__ the ghost's door

dankwizard• 4 years ago

There's a few scattered around - In the memory.txt "Imagine" and "Trillions" are both incorrect.

But you know OP has done a good job if we are nitpicking these small things!

Rinum• 4 years ago

Very cool! I'd recommend simplifying it. I created a card game for SQL and kids were lost when there was too much work involved until I simplified it - https://rowsandtables.com

hackernewds3• 4 years ago

This seems really complicated for the age group (2-4 years old), and becoming a "real data scientist" might not be an aspirational goal for these kids

wilgertvelinga• 4 years ago

You're mistaking recommended age for number of players. Recommended age is 8+.

throwaway4729213• 4 years ago

wow those look amazing!

bb88• 4 years ago

So for a large deck from this company it's $22 or so. If I were a parent teaching my kids to code, I would do this in a heartbeat.

https://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/large-blank-card.htm...

hackernewds3• 4 years ago

I don't understand why you have linked what you have linked

tait• 4 years ago

I think this is really cool and I would be interested in a set of cards - I emailed the address listed on the page.

hackernewds3• 4 years ago

there is a typo

# Roll the dice until your door is # different form the ghost's door.

should be from*

sebst• 4 years ago

Very cool! I took the liberty to cross-post it to my Python News Aggregator over here: https://news.python.sc/item/65013aec-29a0-495c-b288-65abd470...

appleflaxen• 4 years ago

Super cool idea!

I think I found a typo on this card:

https://punkjazz.org/programming-time/photos/c.png

Your comment next to e=7

says: "pick a number between (p-1)*(q-1)..."

But it seems like it's missing "between 1 and (p-1)*(q-1)..."

throwaway4729213• 4 years ago

hehe i didnt want to put `between 1 and` because of the salt fiasco https://github.com/saltstack/salt/commit/5dd304276ba5745ec21...

and then i had a typo ..

i will fix in the next revision!

minroot2• 4 years ago

I hate this kinds of ideas. They should play with the "computer" and learn to program it, know the inner workings.

bloopernova• 4 years ago

I was sat down in front of a computer, given a couple of machine code manuals for the ZX Spectrum, and told to get on with it.

I just wished my dad has sat down with me and spent some time with me. This card game would have been great.

minroot2• 4 years ago

Well, I didn't tell that parents shouldn't cooperate with their kids.

Show HN: Programming Time - Playing card game to teach your kids Python

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