On the iPad

Wonderful post by Alex Payne on the iPad.

The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I'd never be a programmer today. I'd never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write.

http://al3x.net/2010/01/28/ipad.html

Posted on Feb 01, 2010 via Howwl

He does have a point. There's much to be said for starting on a machine that almost encourages you to play around with the innards.

From stevep on Feb 03, 2010

Post 325 via Howwl

I started in around the mid-eighties on a BBC Model B (I'm in the UK and I doubt many of these made it to the rest of the world). Great machine to learn to program on. After a year or so I knew every nook and cranny of it. Those early computers were simple and therefore wonderful learning tools.

From frank in reply to stevep on Feb 03, 2010

Post 330 via Howwl, in reply to Post 325

This has been at the back of my mind for a few days. I wonder if there's a market for a very basic machine that's primarily a learning device, based around a simple processor like the Zilog Z80 and a similarly basic display chip.

From stevep in reply to frank on Feb 03, 2010

Post 353 via Howwl, in reply to Post 330

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