It's no wonder that coding is more fashionable today than ever before. The ability to program is undoubtedly one of the most important skills for the current generation of children to have leading into their adult lives. In 2015, 7 million job openings required the ability to code in the US and it is known that the best way to learn is to start early. A coding camp is a great way to introduce the next generation to the most important skill of the future. While popular culture can often make coding seem a daunting and tricky skill, that is far from the truth. Programming is a skill which everyone can learn.
Hundreds of programming languages have been developed since the beginning of the digital age, so why are there so many different languages? Each language is designed with specific uses in mind and specialises in different sectors of development. Some are designed specifically to teach the fundamentals and logic of programming, while others have been designed to run programs which send rockets into space. These are a few of the languages which we believe are useful when starting coding.
Scratch was developed by MIT to teach the concept of coding and is one of the most popular languages to engage with when learning to code. It's known as a ‘Drag and Drop’ language which means that students can see exactly how their code is being formed. The results are fun visual effects and endless hours of building simple games. Many coding courses for kids will introduce and teach Scratch.
Python is an incredibly common language. It has a very broad array of uses which range from game design to robotics, data analytics and everything in between! Python is also very easy to learn - it's intuitive and lacks a lot of the punctuation and complex syntax required in other languages. It also involves a lot of commands used in everyday English making it easy for young people to read and understand. We run a python coding summer camp which utilises this language to fight robots against each other. This robowars course helps kids learn python while actively seeing the results, an important aspect of any coding camp.
We love C++ because of its versatility and efficiency in many different scenarios. Like Python, C++ can be used for many different purposes. It is used for development in countless different industries. We love C++ for using with Arduinos in our coding summer camps. It's very useful for programming our laser tag guns and is also used in the drone camp.
At Tech Camp we believe that the best way to learn is by having a great sense of achievement. By using coding to manipulate hardware you can get a greater idea of exactly what is going on in the development process. At the end of each of our camps you get to keep and take home any software and hardware that you have been working on in the week. This means that you can keep playing around with it and develop the concepts further at home. We truly believe that by applying your newly learnt coding skills to things such as our laser guns and robots, there is a greater feeling of satisfaction and a drive to learn further programming skills. A good way to experiment is by using an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. These both incorporate coding with a hardware aspect and are well worth looking into and learning how to use.
Find out more about our courses and how you or your child can start learning programming or improve their skills further in a social and structured environment.
