[rif]

My son wants to learn some coding, what's an appropriate language?  I used to program myself in C and FORTRAN and some others, so I am confident that I can keep a step ahead of him.

Maybe python?  I think he said at school he used scratch and code.org in the past at school.  I'd rather that he learn a "real one for grown-ups".

[FullRangeMan]

Something usefull today was Abap.
An historical language were Cobol.

[Odal3]

Check out for example the python for kids books.

Scratch is not a bad starting point - you can get the logic down and you can also go a step deeper than the visual interface and do some of the actual coding.
My 9 year old has done some games in scratch and thought it was fun.
We also have a robot at home that can be programmed with a customized version of scratch. Setting it up to code how to get thru a maze is something I have to admit is fun for me too 

[rockadanny]

Were he 17 years old I'd suggest either Java, C++, C#, or VB. Object Oriented is the key today. But at his young age, something like Python might be best. By the time he is old enough for employment it would not surprise me if the hot marketable skill then has not yet been invented today anyway. Speaking as a software developer since the late 1970s actively looking for work today.

[Folsom]

Lego Mindstorm?

I have no idea how capable he is... very hard to know. Obviously there are certain ones that could make him have an income of $200-400k by the time he's done with high school, if he could get on them and understand them now.

[Odal3]

The robot we got is the makeblock mbot. http://www.makeblock.com/mbot-v1-1-stem-educational-robot-kit. Search youtube for demos. It's based on an arduino board, and comes with everything you need to build it up for less than $100. The Lego mindstorm looks really fun but it can be quite expensive.

My experience with my kids is that you have to find something that they think is fun or they won't do it: making games, anything with minecraft, the robot has worked.

The programming for the robot worked to get down "if this, then that" type of programming. We sometimes set up a course for it to  go through and the challenge is to program it to go through it.

Let us know what you end up with

[richidoo]

Roblox is a very popular online VR community where kids can learn to code while playing video games and chatting with friends. The scripting language is Lua, which is made for gaming and very close to C. Kids build a scene using blocks that look like legos, then they can animate the blocks and create games with scripting. They naturally form teams of friends that complement each others' unique skills. The games range from very basic to extremely sophisticated. Any kid can create his own games and other kids will come and play them and the normal honest critique of kids inspires them to improve as in real-life. There is a natural urge to improve, to impress friends and to succeed. There is an artificial currency for buying things sold in the games, so kids strive to create games that earn money. Fake money can be converted into real cash if you get deep enough into it. There is online chat during games, lots of friendships and fun to have. It is a safe, nurturing environment all 3 of my kids have played there over a decade we've never had a bad experience. My middle child has been playing there very seriously for about 10 years, he's 17 now. His games are regularly featured on the "front page" (top 5) of roblox, he has earned >$5k USD programming games. The games can be played on phones and xbox now, and roblox is merchandising toys at Target now. They are growing very fast. I can't imagine your child wouldn't have a good time, and if he wants to learn to code, there's no funner way to do it, imo.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NUF4YOA

[Bob in St. Louis]

I keep trying to convince my kids that I'm smarter than they are, and that I'm one of the cool kids, but I have NO idea what y'all are talking about!?!?! 

[Odal3]

I looked at Roblox with my kids but I never realized it also have a programming aspect - thought it was only a game. Need to look into it more. Thanks for the tip!

[richidoo]

I looked at Roblox with my kids but I never realized it also have a programming aspect - thought it was only a game. Need to look into it more. Thanks for the tip!

Sure. Here's a link to their wiki, with videos, tutorials.
And Roblox University on yootoob

There's also a forum for the kids to ask questions and get help from each other.
https://forum.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=37553216


Sorry, papa can't resist bragging: My kid's latest roblox game is Boardwalk Tycoon.
Reviewed on yootoob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gks7hBUGQC8
My son wrote all the code for this game, while his partner built the scene. 6400 lines of code so far.

I keep trying to convince my kids that I'm smarter than they are, and that I'm one of the cool kids, but I have NO idea what y'all are talking about!?!?! 

Don't worry Bob, you're still a cool kid around here.  

[Odal3]

Impressive. Yes, you should be proud!

[ctviggen]

Check out for example the python for kids books.

Scratch is not a bad starting point - you can get the logic down and you can also go a step deeper than the visual interface and do some of the actual coding.
My 9 year old has done some games in scratch and thought it was fun.
We also have a robot at home that can be programmed with a customized version of scratch. Setting it up to code how to get thru a maze is something I have to admit is fun for me too 

Our house is basically the same way.  My daughter likes scratch, and I plan to start her on python.  We also have robots that can be programmed.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Don't worry Bob, you're still a cool kid around here.

Thanks Rich.
Whenever I need an ego boost, I just remind my kids that I'm the one that taught them how to use a spoon. 

[pi.bond]

I have to say it depends.  (-:

The coding language/environment they can best relate to will depend on whether they are left or right brained oriented - essentially step-by-step type learning (left) or visual (right).  However, I think for most kids today straight text programming would be difficult to grasp given their exposure to the variety of drag and drop and touch screen devices that make up their day to day activities.

Microsoft did some research in the past with Small Basic and found it fairly easy for 10 to 16 year olds to learn to program.  Essentially Small Basic is a "simplified programming language and environment to help teach programming to beginners".  Version 1.2 can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46392 for Windows 7 or later.  (They have a Version 1.0 for earlier operating systems.)

I plan on giving this a try with my 12 year old over the summer as part of their computer summer camp.  I'll let you know how it goes.

In case anyone is wondering - neither myself, anyone in my family, in-laws, etc have a relationship to Microsoft. (-:

[rif]

I mentioned roblox to him, and he's already used it with his friends!  I'll do some research on all you comments but roblox is the front runner for now.

He had no idea it was coding, which may be the idea.

Anyway he has 3 career aspirations- to be a hacker (in the good sense), make $ off his YouTube channel (20 views), or a professional soccer player in the bundisliga or champions league. Options 1 is possible, 2 is a hell of a long shot and 3 is never going to happen.  But hey, he's only 10, and I'm not going to discourage him for chasing dreams.

[Big Red Machine]

Robotics kids use Labview, as do we in our professional lab set-ups.

I know 14 year olds who have good skills with C+ and C++ already.