How to teach a Thai to Code

[Marcoose]

Hi all.

My Girlfriend's nephew is interested in learning how to code and I was wondering the best way to suggest for him to learn. To begin with I would like for him to learn HTML and CSS. If he understood English to a good level, I would recommend sites like codecademy.com and I was wondering if there were alternatives that offer explanations in Thai. Maybe it's just a case of Google translate? Anyway, if there is anyone out there who can pass over some advice, it would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[lostinisaan]

Just a start: http://www.designil.com/how-to-embed-web-font.html

Forget Google translate, there're better programs available.

Edited July 23, 2016 by lostinisaan

[tifino]

... and when said student keeps nodding his head, at every thing you say,

and same nodding, for when you ask him to answer your re-inforcement questions..................

[Florian42]

Hi, I am an experienced developer and here are my advices :

- Learn code in Thai, this is the most important I guess

You can NOT learn a new programming langage if you have to deal with an intermediate langage (english) to achieve this goal, programming is complex enough, you need 100 percent of your brain, that's it.
I experienced that very recently, and it was a big lesson for my ego. Even if speak, write (docs and tech articles) in English, I realized how more simple it was to start learning a new programming language in French (at least for the fundamentals)

- Print some documentation
It reduce visual fatigue, and I am sure that the brain is more efficient reading a piece of paper than a screen.

- Try have a small, reasonable goal to start, I something very very very simple (Hello world)
Having something finished is why I wake up everyday and code, big source of satisfaction

So it is better to have something stupid but working rather than a very ambitious project but unfinished.

- Don't start with magic tools (avoid bootstrap), use a very simple text editor (sublime text is great)

- Go online first
Big source of satisfaction to have something online

- Ask him to make a website (or script) related to something he likes
I started programming with a website about Bob Marley when I was 13 ;-)

- Join an online Thai community of programmers

- motivation, motivation, motivation.
Show him :
- beautiful things you've done
- how cool you work is
- how you enjoy your job every day
- that it's can be a bbit painfull, but satisfaction if awesome when it is working
- the good salary you can have (okay sounds like stupid but again, good motivation = great results)

I am not sure html is a good start:
- have to deal with 3 langages (html, css, javascript)
- all articles will always present you something incredible but with a bunch of html5, javascript, jquery, css, a bit of bootstrap
- Okay html is simple, but is Css a really simple thing for a beginner ?
- <deleted> browsers compatibility, different outputs can give a serious headache to a beginner

If your guy is really motivated, why not consider starting with a simple script langage like Python
1 langage, 1 documentation,
Python can be a good start because :
- You can use python to build either softwares, scripts, or websites, isn't that great ?
- recommended by many to start programming

Cheers,
Florian

[Oxx]

If he wants to learn to code, get him to code properly. Not to do the web front end stuff. Really, the job market for HTML/CSS/JavaScript personnel is very competitive and pays cashew nuts.

Go for C, C++, Java, Python, PERL, even SQL (not really a programming language).

[Florian42]

Oxx, you are right about the salary, and learning code with frontend stuff may not produce the best "pure" programmer, but theses days this it what is asked in bangkok.
However I would really not advise a complete beginner to start coding with java, c, c++ without a qualified teacher.
Depending on how old is the guy, I suggest starting with something more simple, like Python or Php.

[Rorri]

Go Java, that's what many Android smartphone/tablet apps are based on.

Whatever language you go for, good luck in getting a Thai to understand variables, functions, arrays etc most simply don't have this understanding.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Rorri

[KhunBENQ]

I am a bit late on this thread.

Just supporting:

to learn programming use a high level script language like alreade mentioned "Python".

"Ruby" which I used many years is not that widespread but also a good choice.

For both languages there are online interactive sites to do simple exercises without any installation.

Throwing a "kid" to cryptic stuff like HTML, CSS etc. will soon spoil him.

Unfortunately I can not help with Thai language sources as there is zero programming experience within the Thai family.