GlaD1 Posted September 28, 2023 Posted September 28, 2023 Computers have moved on, but sons can still put dads in their place… Séamas O’Reilly The lad has started to learn coding – and he’s only five! y son has started coding. He’s only five and I reckon we may have to expand the definition of coding a little, but he has joined something called Coding Club at his school. It involves him and his classmates sitting at computers and, well, I’m not sure what happens after that, since he observes a Fight Club-style omertà when it comes to anything he does at school. He is familiar with computers and often joins me in my office – his baby sister’s bedroom – while I work on these very articles. It would be charming if I could say he’s helped much in their writing, perhaps offered a paragraph or two you’ve enjoyed – but this has not been the case. He mostly enjoys opening a new document and using the keyboard to write the longest, rudest words he can spell (‘poo-trampoline’ being a favourite) and I am left to do the grunt work myself. I read that Coding Club uses a game-based platform that enables students to ‘code sprites to move around in different environments’ in which they make ‘rockets, trucks, spiders and even Cinderella!’ It sounds impressive, so I look online to find the module and try it myself. I am presented with a cheery little penguin suspended in the void. As I move said bird, a readout displays his grid coordinates. There are dozens of toolbars and dropdown tabs which, I presume, allow you to do magnificent things with this penguin, but after about four minutes I realise I have no idea what I’m doing and return to my oppressive deadlines. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/sep/24/seamas-oreilly-my-son-has-started-computer-coding-and-he-is-only-five
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