@HC At a guess, the iPad is holding cue cards to remind him of key points to make during his presentation.
Nice video!
Brandon Adams
on 16 Nov 11
We ought to be hitting kids with programming at a much younger age than we are now. Sixth grade seems about right.
I was lucky enough to be learning BASIC on Apple II in sixth grade, but that was 1997. There’s no good reason (apart from it requiring something more expensive than an Apple II) that we couldn’t have been learning Perl or SQL or something with a practical application.
I agree with Max, this kid has a fantastic attitude, he knows what he wants and he works hard to achieving his goals. He is definitely going to be successful. There’s hope in the future after all! :)
I started programming around 6th grade too with QBasic…I made games, lots of them. I could have only dreamed about making games on a device like any of today’s phones or consoles. Kids are lucky that they have so many resources to choose from and it’s great to see some of them taking advantage of it like this little guy.
Anonymous Coward
on 17 Nov 11
For some reason I’m not very impressed. I kinda feel sorry for the kid.
I noticed he was a bit nervous at the beginning of his presentation but I sure would be too, giving a presentation in front of so many people at such a young age. He did a great job. I loved his analogy about how accessible soccer lessons or violin lessons are, but there are no “app lessons”.
Like a poster above I also made lots of programs with QBasic in middle school, but they were pretty much already obsolete. Agree that when we teach kids programming in school, we should teach them something that is actually useful right off the bat, and at an earlier age. Enough with BASIC and PASCAL, I think.
Screw dropping out of Harvard or Stanford. Soon Forbes will be publishing “70 Millionaires who Dropped Out of 7th grade!” Way to go kid. Keep up the good work!
As a side note, I hear a number of companies want to hire, but can’t for lack of good candidates, seemingly stemming from a lack of training and (science & math) education. Perhaps they can develop an apprenticeship program to train workers in science and engineering, not unlike the “Old-World” or the airlines who train First Officers to become Captain.
@ anonymous coward. This kid is bright, personable, talented, a great public speaker, knows where he’s going in life and is speaking at TED. Why in the world would you feel sorry for him??? His future is probably a lot brighter than yours or mind. Save your sympathy for kids with serious strikes against them.
Roy
on 19 Nov 11
nickm and kelly, yes, that's the RSS we're seeing somehow. Crazy crazy because the issue has been there for months... you'd expect with the amount of programming skills 37s…
Michael
on 21 Nov 11
I think qBasic really screwed me over. I simply could not wrap my head around OOP because I didn’t know how it looped! Once I understood that the loop was still there, but hidden, I was able to code.
I would imagine today’s young programmers start with OOP immediately and either don’t think about the loop or are taught it at a young age.
Max Schmeling
on 16 Nov 11Very impressive kid. Love his attitude and drive. He’s already ahead of 90% of people twice his age or more and he’s already helping other people.
Love it.
The Jobs Reservoir
on 16 Nov 11Very amazing. I saw this video on google+ a few days ago and was very impressed. This kid really has a bright future
HC
on 16 Nov 11Why is he holding an iPad?
Eddy
on 16 Nov 11@HC At a guess, the iPad is holding cue cards to remind him of key points to make during his presentation.
Nice video!
Brandon Adams
on 16 Nov 11We ought to be hitting kids with programming at a much younger age than we are now. Sixth grade seems about right.
I was lucky enough to be learning BASIC on Apple II in sixth grade, but that was 1997. There’s no good reason (apart from it requiring something more expensive than an Apple II) that we couldn’t have been learning Perl or SQL or something with a practical application.
Peter
on 16 Nov 11I agree with Max, this kid has a fantastic attitude, he knows what he wants and he works hard to achieving his goals. He is definitely going to be successful. There’s hope in the future after all! :)
Tim Jahn
on 16 Nov 11Love it. This kid is our future and we can only hope there are more like him rising above the traditional education system.
Morning Toast
on 16 Nov 11I started programming around 6th grade too with QBasic…I made games, lots of them. I could have only dreamed about making games on a device like any of today’s phones or consoles. Kids are lucky that they have so many resources to choose from and it’s great to see some of them taking advantage of it like this little guy.
Anonymous Coward
on 17 Nov 11For some reason I’m not very impressed. I kinda feel sorry for the kid.
IT Rush
on 17 Nov 11Smart kid and very inspiring..
dstr0m4
on 17 Nov 11I noticed he was a bit nervous at the beginning of his presentation but I sure would be too, giving a presentation in front of so many people at such a young age. He did a great job. I loved his analogy about how accessible soccer lessons or violin lessons are, but there are no “app lessons”.
Like a poster above I also made lots of programs with QBasic in middle school, but they were pretty much already obsolete. Agree that when we teach kids programming in school, we should teach them something that is actually useful right off the bat, and at an earlier age. Enough with BASIC and PASCAL, I think.
Hamid
on 17 Nov 11Very interesting, He has a fantastic attitude. He is not a kid.
Shery
on 18 Nov 11He is really great and definitely have some very good points. Technology and education have a very good future with him:)
NickM
on 18 Nov 11@37signals
Why does your blog software have so many errors.
Nearly daily when I visit the site, your blog doesn’t send proper HTML and I get something like this
Is it just me or does this seem like a serious bug?
Ben Wolfgramm
on 18 Nov 11Screw dropping out of Harvard or Stanford. Soon Forbes will be publishing “70 Millionaires who Dropped Out of 7th grade!” Way to go kid. Keep up the good work!
As a side note, I hear a number of companies want to hire, but can’t for lack of good candidates, seemingly stemming from a lack of training and (science & math) education. Perhaps they can develop an apprenticeship program to train workers in science and engineering, not unlike the “Old-World” or the airlines who train First Officers to become Captain.
Kelly Sutton
on 19 Nov 11@NickM
I see that occasionally as well. Not sure what the cause is. A refresh usually fixes it.
Christina Sprung
on 19 Nov 11@ anonymous coward. This kid is bright, personable, talented, a great public speaker, knows where he’s going in life and is speaking at TED. Why in the world would you feel sorry for him??? His future is probably a lot brighter than yours or mind. Save your sympathy for kids with serious strikes against them.
Roy
on 19 Nov 11nickm and kelly, yes, that's the RSS we're seeing somehow. Crazy crazy because the issue has been there for months... you'd expect with the amount of programming skills 37s…
Michael
on 21 Nov 11I think qBasic really screwed me over. I simply could not wrap my head around OOP because I didn’t know how it looped! Once I understood that the loop was still there, but hidden, I was able to code.
I would imagine today’s young programmers start with OOP immediately and either don’t think about the loop or are taught it at a young age.
This discussion is closed.