Teaching Kids to Program with Hedy: A Gradual Programming Language • Felienne Hermans • GOTO 2022

This presentation was recorded at GOTO Amsterdam 2022. #GOTOcon #GOTOams http://gotoams.nl Felienne Hermans - Author of “The Programmer’s Brain” & Associate Professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science @felienne RESOURCES https://www.hedycode.com ABSTRACT Learning to program can be hard. Not that programming itself is hard! Hedy is a gradual programming language to make learning programming easier for all kids that want to learn. The core idea of Hedy is that it uses different language levels. In level 1, there is hardly any syntax at all, for example printing is done with: In every level, new syntax and concepts are added, until kids are doing a subset of Python in level 22 with conditions, loops, variables and lists. The leveled approach means that learners do not have to learn all syntax rules at once. Hedy is aimed at children that want to get started with textual programming languages, but for whom starting with Python might still be too complex. Hedy is open source, runs in the browser, is free to use, and available in seventeen different languages (Including English, Spanish, Chinese and Hindi). It was launched in early 2020 and since then almost 1.5 million Hedy programs have been created by children worldwide. You can try Hedy at https://www.hedycode.com. In this talk, Felienne will dive into the pedagogy behind Hedy, but also expand on the technical aspects of Hedy. For example, a set of increasingly complex grammars, rather than one grammar, poses new challenges for language design. [...] TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:31 How to teach programming? 02:48 Compilers are lovely teachers 07:15 Compilers are not teachers 09:08 The programmer's brain 11:49 Rules gradually change 12:41 Hedy is gradual 14:01 Demo 17:53 How is this going? 18:54 Hedy programs 21:00 Do kids like Hedy? 27:40 Demo 29:26 Architecture 33:45 OS & academia 36:16 Hedy is free & open source 37:23 Outro Download slides and read the full abstract here: https://gotoams.nl/2022/sessions/1737 RECOMMENDED BOOKS Felienne Hermans • The Programmer's Brain • https://amzn.to/3mENbN0 Adrienne Tacke • Coding for Kids: Python • https://amzn.to/3X4IVGv Bryson Payne • Teach Your Kids to Code • https://amzn.to/3vU4UUO Craig Steele • Help Your Kids with Computer Coding • https://amzn.to/3WZvB6i Daniel Kahneman • Thinking, Fast and Slow • https://amzn.to/2XmJEtf Jon Woodcock • Coding Games in Scratch • https://amzn.to/3jURo0a https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Hedy #Programming #ProgrammingTutorial #TeachingKids #LearnToCode #KidsLearnToCode #HowToCode #Pedagogy #Python #PythonProgramming #GradualProgramming #Scratch #ScratchProgramming #Syntax CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1