Check out 'Coding for Beginners Using Python' by Osborne.
Also have a look at 'Coding Projects in Python' by DK books.
Both these books are excellent and would enable a smart and determined 11 year old to learn to code.
To be honest these books teach coding in a way that is much easier than it was in your day. You can also jump on many, many websites and teach yourself how to code.
You're also an exception. Many, many kids read those old Osborne books and only a very tiny fraction like yourself became coders and an even smaller fraction became as successful as yourself.
Right place, right time, right level of curiosity. Back then, I didn't really have a choice: there weren't any other books in my school library, I didn't want to spend lunchtimes in the playground (I was being bullied), I knew programming would be potentially useful (my Dad had switched from being an accountant to something I heard was called a "systems analyst", which I knew had something to do with computers, and had allowed him to emigrate with his new family), and well, I was a bit of a mess.
I have seen some of the newer projects, and like I say, the Raspberry Pi stuff makes programmable computing accessible to a kid without much, I just don't think the bar overall is as low as it was for me.
And yeah, survivorship bias, and a weird population skew with me: I was literally the only kid in that computer room determined to learn how to code.
A windows laptop from today is vastly easier to code on that a C64 or whatever. Most houses would have an internet connection as well so they can get to all sorts of things.
A Raspberry Pi is probably something richer kids get to play with.
Primary School kids today in Australia often get a Chromebook and have some tutoring in Scratch. Again, it gets you the ideas of coding in a way that more kids will get.
You mention the lack of alternatives that got you and other kids into coding. That's probably a thing. There is so much more entertainment available today that most kids probably don't get bored like kids did in the past and sat down and learnt to code. It has to be more intentional.
When I was a kid my mum was a teacher and brought home a computer over the school holidays which had no games. I taught myself databases and spreadsheets because there was a good tutorial on that.
There is also probably something in that until, say, the 2010s computers were not quite ubiquitous enough that they were a constant part of kids lives. Certainly in the 1980s and 1990s there was something almost magical about the devices. A kid today who grows up in a household with smartphones, tablets, laptops and multiple smart TVs probably won't get the same thrill about moving an object around a screen as someone did 30+ years ago.
Is SA still a thing? I had an account since... 2007? God I'm old. I miss the days when you could have a community that you could easily search for content. Nowadays everything is a discord black hole.
Creating a good story, getting good actors and getting it all to come together is hard and still costs millions. At the end you may also not get your money back
Take 'I Swear', a very good recent film. It's well worth a watch.
It's made 8.3M. Has it made the money back?
It's not going to compete with 'The Mandalorian and Sidekick'.
That's likely to make several hundred million and still be fairly poor.
in NA we have to call them "free libraries" because the concept of not having to pay for something is so rare, it has to be clearly indicated upfront! (joking lol, mostly!!)
Some libraries require membership. Also some people have private libraries. Universities often have libraries which, at least, don’t offer all of their services to the general public.
Yeah. It's a remarkable problem. There is a clear solution that is happily used for men. You tell people what to measure then have the clothes sized for the various dimensions.
Charles Tyrwhitt have this guide where they tell you what to measure for shirts :
Also have a look at 'Coding Projects in Python' by DK books.
Both these books are excellent and would enable a smart and determined 11 year old to learn to code.
To be honest these books teach coding in a way that is much easier than it was in your day. You can also jump on many, many websites and teach yourself how to code.
You're also an exception. Many, many kids read those old Osborne books and only a very tiny fraction like yourself became coders and an even smaller fraction became as successful as yourself.
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