Is programming really appropriate for a seven-year-old?

Re:Is programming really appropriate for a seven-year-old? by petercooper on Tuesday December 16, 2008 @07:46PM (#400355)

It's important to note that starting early does not necessarily make you a good programmer as an adult.

I do not remember ever not programming. My first programming memories were at 6 but I have no memories before then anyway. I have pictures and my parents say I started with simple BASIC programs at about age 4. I started 6502 assembler at about 7, and C at 9. I was pretty good at C by 11, then went to Pascal, and so on and so forth.

Now? I'm formally a mediocre programmer at best - despite doing it for some 23 years now on and off. In this sense, I think programming early is no different to "drawing" or "writing" early.. just because you start early doesn't mean you'll be a top artist or author one day. If drawing and writing are appropriate for a seven year old, then why not programming?

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Re:Is programming really appropriate for a seven-year-old? by a-priori on Tuesday December 16, 2008 @10:27PM (#400508)

My brother and I both started programming around age 5 or 6 when we discovered QBasic. We switched to Visual Basic years later, then he lost interest. I picked up C++ and kept going from there.

Today, I'm a software developer and he's a network administrator. He has no interest in programming.

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