My little brother (12 1/2) has recently expressed an interest in programming. I started him out with a drag-and-drop editor called GameMaker to learn the theory of programming before learning any actual coding. I then hope to teach him QBasic, using the Rev. Guide to QBasic by Wrox Press for ideas. Any suggestions as to what I should teach him next? He says he eventually wants to learn C++, but I think he should, as I did, learn simple languages and move up slowly.

Skip qbasic, it teaches bad programming habbits. Rather go for Pascal. Qbasic lacks any form of structure. Pascal has good structure and is easy enough for a first language.
C++ is a very good language, but is at least 10 times as difficult as Pascal. It's very hard to learn C++ as a first language.

RedX

The consensus I get these days is that Python supercedes both BASIC and Pascal as the teaching language of choice.

Never used Phyton. So I can't say anything about it's usefullnes or difficulty. (Turbo)Pascal was the language we got at school. And as far as I know it is the standard here (Belgium).

RedX

>>Never used Python. So I can't say anything about it's usefullnes or difficulty. ( Turbo ) Pascal was the language we got at school. And as far as I know it is the standard here ( Belgium ).
>>

I also have never had any experience with Python. I must say that Turbo Pascal , has become outdated. I would suggest QBasic in a different form , it's called Rapid-Q . Its FREE , GUI and very stable and simple. It compiles into byte-code , so there is really a lot of options deleted. I think there is another one called IBasic , it allows you to use DirectX more easily. Anyway , I when I was 12 , started programming in Fortran 77. Not reccomended , but an idea. :).

-Vlad

I started with qbasic. Later used Pascal, tried out Visual basic (for 10 minutes or so). Got back to Pascal, Learned Turbo C (free compiler), spend some time with Turbo C++ (found it on a site WHICH SELLS SOFTWARE COMPLETELY LEGALLY [-gian]), got rid of it when I found DJGPP C++ compiler (freeware, open source project under GPL, good userbase, what more do you need?). Then tried out LCC C-compiler for win32 (win32 API with C is a pain in the ass). Tried out Borland C++ (had it on a CD). Now I use Visual C++ (win32) and Bascom AVR (ýcontrollers)

RedX

Visual Basic gets nnoying after 10 minutes. Its too simple and not powewrful enough.Something bare and simple ( DOS programming ) was best for me. No fansy stuff , just plain F77 and F90. I suppose if I had BASIC it would have done the same. Afterwards I went onto Quick C .

Try Quick C or , as stupid as it may sound , ASIC BASIC.

-Vlad

You can't find any sites selling Turbo C++ anymore.
Borland released it as freeware some time ago.

RedX

Well, Python may be a good choice.... I do have experience, but I don't like it because as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) there aren't any compilers for it; only interpreters. But anyway, I planned on QB, THEN Pascal, and then something called DarkBASIC, which is a BASIC variation that lets you use DirectX. Kind of slow, but good for small projects.

If Pascal use Dev-Pascal compiler system , its ace !