Here's something that might surprise you: https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/index.shtml

This provides a 2D and 3D NetLogo installation. The 3D version blows my mind. You can spend days going through the samples. When you look at the code after you watch a simulation, it's a bit of a shock how compact and readable it is. It's definitely a whole lot more than what they taught you and I alike in middle school.

> Lisp should be forbidden to young programmers, precisely so they'll go seek it out.

Unless it comes with a turtle, of course. Then they might end up writing the next greatest flocking algorithm.

Yeah but they won't. JavaScript is the most popular programming language precisely because people in general use whatever is put in front of them.

JS is popular because it runs in browsers and therefore has a thriving ecosystem with lots of educational resources, lots of opportunity to show your work to other people, and lots of jobs, not because it's taught in schools.

Examples of educational languages would be Alice and Logo, and they're both pretty bad at actually doing anything.

I learned Logo in elementary school. I thought it was required for everyone just because learning about line segments and angles are a part of the maths curriculum and Logo just fits so well.

A piece of paper, a pencil, a ruler, and a compass - these are the best tools to learn about geometry. (It’s like having a cat is the best way to learn about cats - vs., say, watching YouTube videos.)

I do wonder now how much the fact that I had to circumvent the system security to get to the startling line made me enjoy spending my lunch break writing QBASIC at high school.