TeachingRubyHelpingJakeandJanelearntoprogram

BruceScharlau

JakeandJanewanttolearntoprogramcomputers

Jakehasagameinmind,Janewantsthebasics

Isitbe>ertoteach

programmingwrappedarounda

game,ornot?

Gamesneedtofocusonthebasics

Teachthebasicsusinggameconceptstoaidlearning

Teachthebasicswithemphasisongames

Jakewantstorealizehisidea

Jakehasanideaforwebbasedgame

ScratchandGreenfootdon’thelp

h>p://www.greenfoot.org/

h>p://scratch.mit.edu/

RailsBridgepointstheway

h>p://railsbridge.org/

FocusingonthegamewillmoHvatehim

BuildupJake’slearningbasedongameneeds

Learnwhat’sneededasa

problemsolvingskill

Seeeachstepincontextofthegame

Usegamefeaturestoguidelearning

Shoesislightweightandeasytostart

h>p://github.com/shoes/shoes

Shoesisnotalwayseasytofollow

Whatifweteach

programmingconceptswith

gameexamples?

Janewantstolearntoprogram

TheTeachingChildrensitehelps

h>p://teachingkids.railsbridge.org/

ChrisPine’s‘learntoprogram’isuseful

h>p://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/

HelloWorld!Isgreat,butpythonbased

h>p://www.manning.com/sande/

Janeisinterestedin‘coding’

Janewantstomastertheconcepts

JanewantsthegeneralCSdegree

Janehasnospecificplansforherneed

Janecanbeguidedbygeneralconcepts

Thenumberofrubybooksgrows

Othersbeingdoneaswespeak…

h>p://book.rubylearning.org/

h>p://www.pragprog.com/Htles/ruby3/programming‐ruby‐1‐9

h>p://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529864

Mostruby‘learning’booksassumeprogrammingknowledge

Thesearenotthebooksyou’relookingfor…

JakeandJaneneedprocesstobemorefun

Weneedacompromisebetweenthetwo

Maybeweneed‘helloworld’inrubyand‘redfoot’forrubyobjects

h>p://www.greenfoot.org/

Jake’sfixedideaisusefulforfocus

GamesprovideprograminteracHon

ConsoleappscauseproblemsbutareneededforinteracHon

Consoleappsarealsougly

ShoesandsimilarGUItoolshelp,butcanbechallengingforbeginners

h>p://limelight.8thlight.com/h>p://github.com/shoes/shoes

Plentyofeffortunderwaytoprovidebeginnerlearningexperiences

h>p://teachingkids.railsbridge.org/h>p://tescirst.org/

h>p://github.com/ultrasaurus/dusty‐adcusingSinatraforZorktypegame

h>p://github.com/ultrasaurusSarahAllenhasalotofusefulexamplesandideas

Gamesprovidethe’x’todo‘y’aspect

Gamesforceneedandcuriosityhelps

Gamesalsointroducelogicandflow

Gamesalsobringinvisualaspects,whichmightnotbeneeded

Isisbe>ertohavea‘reason’forlearning,orjustlearn‘games’?

BuildupJake’slearningbasedongameneeds

TeachJaneprogrammingusinggamesseemsbe>er

UsegamestorealisetheirpotenHal

AllimagesprovidedbyNiallBenvieath>p://www.ImagesFromTheEdge.comh>p://niallbenvie.churchilljohnson.co.uk/blog/

h>p://www.ilcp.com/index.php?cid=usrs&port=nbenvie

Learnthebasicswrappedaroundgames

BruceScharlauUniversityofAberdeenb.scharlau@abdn.ac.uk

h>p://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~bscharla@scharlau

h>p://github.com/scharlau/RubyBasics/