BORT wrote: > I told my son, who wants to learn how to compute probabilities, that we > have to start with some boring stuff so we can learn how to do the cool > stuff. Adding and subtracting aren't really fun, but figuring odds on > rolling dice IS fun. Learning to program will be kind of like that. > He accepted that explantion.
I'm not sure that you actually have to start with the boring stuff. Imagine that you have a small, but complete program that executes some random function a thousand times and plots the distribution. Your son could probably * start to change parameters to the function * try out the different distributions in the library * combine them to form new distributions (e.g. roll two n-sided dice) * build more complex simulations (pit two Dungeons&Dragons fighters against each other by rolling simulated dice) It's a bit more work for you as you'll have to decide on each step how much of the infrastructure you implement without taking away all the challenges. Python vs. FORTH: what you learn from Python is more easily transferred to other programming languages. And if you happend to speak German, there is "Python für Kids" <http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3826609514/qid%3D1119950457/302-9800191-4449651> Daniel -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
