looking for some computer private teacher for my 12 year old son in Buriram.

[konaboy]

He wants to learn to code as well as general education. Hourly. A few days a week.

[simon43]

Can you not use an online teacher?  (I teach Arduino, Python, PHP etc coding, but am fully booked up!)

[alextrat1966]

12 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Can you not use an online teacher?  (I teach Arduino, Python, PHP etc coding, but am fully booked up!)

Those you've mentioned can hardly be counted as programming languages! Since they are extremely extremely high level and thought out to let people "code" but barely understanding what is going on. 

 

IMO, at 12 years old, you need to do it the right way, and not jump straight into coding, but firstly start with how computers work. 

 

- CPU & Memory (ALUs, registers, addresses, operations). There are ways to make a kid this young understand all these pretty well.

 

- Teach him and let him do some coding at a very low level (Assembly) - again this doesn't mean making your kid an ASM master, just let him"play" around with it and get a grasp.  

 

- Now comes programming logic, and the best way to make a kid learn this is believe it or not with Excel spreadsheets. If your kid learns Excel at a good level, programming mindset will come much more easy. Cuz Excel is a simplified way of programming, the logic is the same! 

 

- Once he has passed all this, you can start with abstractions and high level languages (Arduino, PHP, Python,...). 

 

IMO if you start teaching him from the ground up, it will make his life easier, and he will be a better programmer once he reaches the commonly used high level coding languages, than if you start straight from high level programming languages.

 

 

 

[fdsa]

12 hours ago, alextrat1966 said:

IMO if you start teaching him from the ground up, it will make his life easier, and he will be a better programmer once he reaches the commonly used high level coding languages, than if you start straight from high level programming languages.

...but does he want to become an expert programmer == nolifer? The happiest programmers out there do not understand how things work but still get their thousands $s coding in Python & friends.

[ChaiyaTH]

13 hours ago, alextrat1966 said:

Those you've mentioned can hardly be counted as programming languages! Since they are extremely extremely high level and thought out to let people "code" but barely understanding what is going on. 

 

IMO, at 12 years old, you need to do it the right way, and not jump straight into coding, but firstly start with how computers work. 

You have no idea what you talk about, cheers from a programmer and IT guy who started at 12. 

In reality; the future is program or be programmed. Arduino is a great way to start as mentioned above, and soon after basic PHP and PYTHON too. The sooner he starts the better, I was able to move here since age of 20 thanks to that, after doing a volunteer army period of 2.5 years.

 

Most programmers can't even write HTML5/CSS, that is why they hire front-end coders, yes you read that right, those doing the basics are not considered programmers and programmers do not need to know about this at all. That is only a distraction, better to get good at just one of them (or a few that fall in a certain category).

 

It is much more about which one he likes, some people like doing things that are mainly in the terminal and others love to design things using HTML5, CSS or JavaScript and so on and on.

And if you are the hardware type, you not need to learn any programming perse either. Excel for starters? WTH.

[ChaiyaTH]

For the OP: you can get those arduino play sets on Lazada very cheap, you would not really need a teacher for this initially, all tho, if you can find one that is potentially even better. 

 

Arduino actually is something I would have loved if it was around at the time, you can make endless things and also play with it, like remote controlled cars etc. Being able to read all documentation in English is most important, as almost all of it is.

 

https://www.coderkids.com/blog/top-10-free-coding-programs-for-kids

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/projects/tags/kids

https://www.khanacademy.org/

 

Just let him play around with various things, some things are hardware based, some are only software based. Some things are mainly terminal and numbers based while other things can be mainly about graphic appearance etc. 

 

Plenty of time if he starts now already and as he gets older interest might shift, he will have plenty of time and can easily earn 5-10x minimum wage within a few years, even if he starts with what he really likes at the age of 20, 2 years later he has a job.

[simon43]

I personally can't find enough hours to teach all the kids who want to learn about Arduino projects and Python coding (it seems that Python is 'flavour of the day' as a coding language in some schools).  Also Scratch for younger kids and Roblox as well.  I always prefer to teach about Arduino because it relates computer coding with real-world projects, sensors, interfacing etc.

 

Anyway, I hope the OP finds a suitable tutor ????

[alextrat1966]

5 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

You have no idea what you talk about, cheers from a programmer and IT guy who started at 12. 

In reality; the future is program or be programmed. Arduino is a great way to start as mentioned above, and soon after basic PHP and PYTHON too. The sooner he starts the better, I was able to move here since age of 20 thanks to that, after doing a volunteer army period of 2.5 years.

 

Most programmers can't even write HTML5/CSS, that is why they hire front-end coders, yes you read that right, those doing the basics are not considered programmers and programmers do not need to know about this at all. That is only a distraction, better to get good at just one of them (or a few that fall in a certain category).

 

It is much more about which one he likes, some people like doing things that are mainly in the terminal and others love to design things using HTML5, CSS or JavaScript and so on and on.

And if you are the hardware type, you not need to learn any programming perse either. Excel for starters? WTH.

Yes, that’s what’s worked for you in the past. Because when you were 20 not many compared to now knew how to code. 
 

Nowadays you can see in Freelancer sites that everyone seems to know how to code, even if they have no idea what they’re doing (then comes user input related bugs because the programmer had no idea what was going on, and similar things ). 
 

Anyway, unless his only goal in life is making websites as an online freelancer and getting paid peanuts compared to what he could get paid otherwise, then he’d better do it the proper way. 
 

Excel is the gateway to programming, believe it or not. Because while not programming in itself, it readies your mind to understand programming, Specially in a kid. 
 

Teaching a kid to code a Calculator in Python without him understanding what is going on, will never make him a great programmer. Average at best. 

[alextrat1966]

6 hours ago, fdsa said:

...but does he want to become an expert programmer == nolifer? The happiest programmers out there do not understand how things work but still get their thousands $s coding in Python & friends.

Yes, that’s the way things have worked so far. But nowadays I’m sure even your neighbor’s dog is a freelancer who codes in Python ???????????????? 

 

With more substandard programmers popping out of everywhere, I’m sure it will be more and more difficult for them to earn their $s. 
 

Competition in freelancer sites is ferocious, they fight over $1, and very few of them know what they’re doing! 
 

I once was lazy and had someone in Freelancer code a very simple backend for me! The piece of <deleted> he coded for me upon overcharging was vulnerable to the simplest form of SQL Injection (and the fella was filled with positive reviews)…. Never again.

[Chris.B]

Whatever happened to 'Basic' then? ????

 

[teeyai]

Konaboy , My Son is 15 , Has been living in England for 6 years ,speaks both Thai and English and is Studying to be a Programer, The Top in His Year and one of the top in The Year above. I Strongly Believe Teaching Others what You're Learning Helps Ingrain it in Your into Your own Mind So if You can do it online ( Zoom etc ) Let Me know . 

[fdsa]

4 hours ago, alextrat1966 said:

I once was lazy and had someone in Freelancer code a very simple backend for me! The piece of <deleted> he coded for me upon overcharging was vulnerable to the simplest form of SQL Injection (and the fella was filled with positive reviews)…. Never again.

and that's exactly the reason why I'm transitioning from Linux system administration to information security. I'll always be employed

[Freddy42OZ]

On 1/24/2022 at 5:11 PM, alextrat1966 said:

Those you've mentioned can hardly be counted as programming languages! Since they are extremely extremely high level and thought out to let people "code" but barely understanding what is going on. 

 

IMO, at 12 years old, you need to do it the right way, and not jump straight into coding, but firstly start with how computers work. 

 

- CPU & Memory (ALUs, registers, addresses, operations). There are ways to make a kid this young understand all these pretty well.

 

- Teach him and let him do some coding at a very low level (Assembly) - again this doesn't mean making your kid an ASM master, just let him"play" around with it and get a grasp.  

 

- Now comes programming logic, and the best way to make a kid learn this is believe it or not with Excel spreadsheets. If your kid learns Excel at a good level, programming mindset will come much more easy. Cuz Excel is a simplified way of programming, the logic is the same! 

 

- Once he has passed all this, you can start with abstractions and high level languages (Arduino, PHP, Python,...). 

 

IMO if you start teaching him from the ground up, it will make his life easier, and he will be a better programmer once he reaches the commonly used high level coding languages, than if you start straight from high level programming languages.

 

 

 

The best thing for him to be learning would by blockchain smart contract languages.

Then add javascript, PHP, MySQL, HTML5 and CSS.

 

[bangon04]

I heard a rumor that the guy who programmed the Thailand Pass was a kid of 12..........

[OneMoreFarang]

On 1/24/2022 at 4:34 PM, konaboy said:

He wants to learn to code

Great. What does he wants to learn to code?

I.e. does he wants to code how to let some lights blink?

Or does he wants to simulate how two lifts work together when people press buttons?

Or how about some formula in Excel?

In my experience people learn best if they want to learn something specific.

And best there should not be a ready made solution for that problem, because it is so easy to copy and paste.

 

When I started programming about 1992, there basically was no internet at that time. I started with a 1000 pages programmers handbook about the macro language from Ami Pro which was a word processing software.

I needed to format text depending on data. I.e. if a number was 1 then it showed "1 item" and if the number was 2 it showed "2 items" and if the number was 0 it showed "no items". Nothing fancy, just something which didn't work out of the box and had to be programmed.

I learned this by looking up commands in that book. And then more commands, and then I read the whole book to get an overview about all those interesting commands.

And then I tried to do this and that and I got better. And because there was no internet I couldn't just look it up and copy and paste it. Good.

 

Even in these days I would still recommend a book. Because reading a book makes people think. And programming is about thinking (and not copy and paste). Any simple programming language will do at the beginning because it is about the principle of learning about programming like IF THEN ELSE, etc.

 

And when he wants to use the internet I highly recommend this website as a start with lots of questions and answers. This is used by beginner and by professionals.

 

https://stackoverflow.com/

You can search for things like "how do I learn programming?" or about every detail of any programming language and any problem. And the good thing is that (also) experienced programmers answer. 

 

A good teacher should be able to guide him. But I am sure there are too many "teachers" out there who see their job description as: Now he knows these 30 commands from this programming language. He can answer the test questions. Done.

And what did he really learn? Did he solve by himself a problem which he wanted to solve? 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, bangon04 said:

I heard a rumor that the guy who programmed the Thailand Pass was a kid of 12..........

I guess it is more likely that it was one of those guys who learned COBOL in a Thai university not too long ago. He got the degree but ...

[alextrat1966]

28 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I guess it is more likely that it was one of those guys who learned COBOL in a Thai university not too long ago. He got the degree but ...

it's riddled with user input sanitization related vulnerabilities.... oh boy...

 

For starters, even when Test & Go was "suspended", you could just edit the (unencrypted) cookie and change the type to Test & Go. Which is how I got mine to return from Europe after 21st Dec ????

[bluejets]

On 1/24/2022 at 8:11 PM, alextrat1966 said:

Those you've mentioned can hardly be counted as programming languages! Since they are extremely extremely high level and thought out to let people "code" but barely understanding what is going on. 

 

IMO, at 12 years old, you need to do it the right way, and not jump straight into coding, but firstly start with how computers work. 

 

- CPU & Memory (ALUs, registers, addresses, operations). There are ways to make a kid this young understand all these pretty well.

 

- Teach him and let him do some coding at a very low level (Assembly) - again this doesn't mean making your kid an ASM master, just let him"play" around with it and get a grasp.  

 

- Now comes programming logic, and the best way to make a kid learn this is believe it or not with Excel spreadsheets. If your kid learns Excel at a good level, programming mindset will come much more easy. Cuz Excel is a simplified way of programming, the logic is the same! 

 

- Once he has passed all this, you can start with abstractions and high level languages (Arduino, PHP, Python,...). 

 

IMO if you start teaching him from the ground up, it will make his life easier, and he will be a better programmer once he reaches the commonly used high level coding languages, than if you start straight from high level programming languages.

 

 

 

Rubbish !!!! ....what you propose would see the kid loose interest and dump the idea.

simon43 reply would get them going really quickly and retain interest.

Can always go to lower level programming at a later time if they still find they need to go that way.

[Bkk Brian]

I recommend this website for students to learn a variety of coding languages, not expensive and courses are for beginners to advanced, also free courses for basics

 

https://www.codecademy.com/

https://www.codecademy.com/catalog

 

Used by schools and adults.

[konaboy]

Thanks to all for your help. I knew nothing when I started this (only the  word code). I still know nitnoy. Seems to me that BKK Brian will get my first try at his links. Still do not have anyone who offered to teach. Zoom is ok for my son. He has been on it for 2 years and his Thai language teacher is on it 3 times a week. Just want to get him started.

Not sure if my son is a self starter. Guess I will find out.

[recom273]

You could start with scratch .. you can make basic games and animations, its fun .. he can learn himself or you can find a tutor here.

 

https://scratch.mit.edu

 

 

https://outschool.com/online-classes?q=coding&theme=Coding %26 Tech#abkyv2a56x

 

You might want to think about robotics instead of sitting in from of a keyboard, you can use the skills that you learn from scratch to create routines.

 

For my own entertainment after buying a 3D printer I bought one of these 

 

https://www.ottodiy.com

 

 

You can learn how to flash arduino to a board, then create routines with mblock or scratch.

 

https://mblock.makeblock.com/en-us/

 

I have enough 3D printed parts and components to make another kit if you want to try it out.

 

I gather there are bricks n mortar schools that teach lego programming, like bricks 4 kidz, that you can find in central shopping centers, they often have fillipino teachers who teach in English.

 

There is also a BBC platform

 

https://www.microbit.org

 

I also made SMARS below, which is more of a remote control, but good fun when learning about uploading code, flashing boards, and learning how sensors operate. Its more of a step up from the OTTO.

 

There are plenty of variations here https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=smars&type=things&sort=relevant 

 

 

Sorry, I'm familiar with online teaching, but im not a computer teacher, but this is where I would start.

 

I have thought about doing some kind of summer school / day course / after school club thing when covid allows, and have no idea how to format an online course.

 

But try it yourself, Its all plug and play, not difficult. Im happy to answer any questions.

[alextrat1966]

3 hours ago, bluejets said:

Rubbish !!!! ....what you propose would see the kid loose interest and dump the idea.

simon43 reply would get them going really quickly and retain interest.

Can always go to lower level programming at a later time if they still find they need to go that way.

That depends. If it wasn’t the kids idea to learn programming and he has 0 interest in it, then yes. You are better off letting him do robotics(Arduino) or something like that so that he will have fun and get to play while learning “something”. Whether that something will eventually be of any use, can’t guarantee. 
 

However if the kid himself is into programming and computers, then that’s the perfect plan even for his age. That’s the one I followed and why I’ve done so well ????

[konaboy]

On 1/24/2022 at 5:11 PM, alextrat1966 said:

Those you've mentioned can hardly be counted as programming languages! Since they are extremely extremely high level and thought out to let people "code" but barely understanding what is going on. 

 

IMO, at 12 years old, you need to do it the right way, and not jump straight into coding, but firstly start with how computers work. 

 

- CPU & Memory (ALUs, registers, addresses, operations). There are ways to make a kid this young understand all these pretty well.

 

- Teach him and let him do some coding at a very low level (Assembly) - again this doesn't mean making your kid an ASM master, just let him"play" around with it and get a grasp.  

 

- Now comes programming logic, and the best way to make a kid learn this is believe it or not with Excel spreadsheets. If your kid learns Excel at a good level, programming mindset will come much more easy. Cuz Excel is a simplified way of programming, the logic is the same! 

 

- Once he has passed all this, you can start with abstractions and high level languages (Arduino, PHP, Python,...). 

 

IMO if you start teaching him from the ground up, it will make his life easier, and he will be a better programmer once he reaches the commonly used high level coding languages, than if you start straight from high level programming languages.

 

 

 

 

[konaboy]

sounds good  thanks

[sharksy]

I got interested in computers when I was about 13, learning BASIC, then machine code to make my games faster.  Different computing era back in the early 80s.

Always wanted to be a programmer since then, but I was rubbish at college, whilst I got pretty much 100% scores in the programming subjects, the maths, statistics, business studies etc bored he hell out of me so I failed the course.

 

Eventually "fell" into a programming job at the age of 28 (working with the company in a systems support role), with absolutely no experience of the language used (SAS) which I found somewhat uninteresting and very different to what I was used to.  But it was my only chance.

Ended up at consultancy level, made a fair bit of money as a contractor using this software.

After nearly 20 years, I couldn't wait to get out of IT.

 

Back to your original question about learning how computers work, I really think assembly code is not the way to start.  If you wanted a slightly higher level language, then maybe C would work(I used this as a language at college to control motors etc), but not sure how much that is used nowadays.

 

I would go for SQL.  Always seems popular in the business world and would be a good start.

[JayClay]

2 hours ago, sharksy said:

I would go for SQL.  Always seems popular in the business world and would be a good start.

This reminds me of an important point... Whichever way you decide to go to introduce your son to programming, please make sure your teacher explains *why* he's learning it and what it's capable of.

 

When I got onto a colleague course to learn computing I was completely baffled as to why we were learning about databases, of all things. As far as I knew from school, databases were just ways of keeping records of people's names and addresses. They didn't seem any way important, or _relevent_ to what I wanted to be doing in the future. This was one of the reasons I ended dropping out the course.

 

Now, Facebook etc wasn't around then so instantly accessable demonstrations were hard to come by. But if they could have demonstrated how a large corporation worked using a database backend, or how a video game could make use of a database, things could have been very different.