jsdares
Learning and science
programming education
SHOW HN2013
177points
39comments
#91of 1,739 in 2013
Top 6%of 2013 by points
How HN took it
LovedMost comments that take a side are positive
15 positive, 3 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 2 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score +0.56.
Idea: 6 for, 0 againstExecution: 4 for, 0 againstDesign: 2 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun, engaging gaming approach that motivates learners
From 3 comments
I showed it to my 12-yo son. He wants to learn programming. Right now he's able to create complex machines in Minecraft, which are similar to programs and to electronic circuits.…
facorreia on HNThis is so well made. Would be a great intro to programming for kids or newbies of any age. Congrats and great work!
jonahx on HNJan Paul showed me this at Fronteers last year. It's super impressive and works incredibly fluid. I hope this gets a bunch of attention and gets incorporated into a lot of…
kilian on HN
Impressive, fluid execution
From 3 comments
Jan Paul showed me this at Fronteers last year. It's super impressive and works incredibly fluid. I hope this gets a bunch of attention and gets incorporated into a lot of…
kilian on HNThis is so well made. Would be a great intro to programming for kids or newbies of any age. Congrats and great work!
jonahx on HNExcellent work, congrats!
eccp on HN
Objections
Not localized; only English available
From 2 comments
It's one of the greater hurdles for teaching kids to code, in non-English countries. Everything is in English, which greatly impacts their ability to figure out most things for…
tripzilch on HNHow is the localization done? I'd be interested in a german version (and would contribute).
dirkk0 on HN
Initial page has too many starting paths and is confusing
From 2 comments
This makes me want to find an old BBC Micro and a LOGO Turtle :) I Think the initial page has too many paths that I can start on. I think it needs a single clear starting point…
chrisfarms on HNI also didn't find the actual tutorials below the fold at first. I thought we were supposed to start at the big game, which is rather complex for novices. Consider placing the…
facorreia on HN
Few dares implemented yet
From 1 comment
Thanks a lot, great to hear he liked it! Unfortunately there are not many dares implemented yet, so he will not be able to follow a nice path from playing with robots to writing…
janpaul123 on HN
Requests
Add localization and translation support
From 3 comments
I showed it to my 12-yo son. He wants to learn programming. Right now he's able to create complex machines in Minecraft, which are similar to programs and to electronic circuits.…
facorreia on HNHow is the localization done? I'd be interested in a german version (and would contribute).
dirkk0 on HNIt's one of the greater hurdles for teaching kids to code, in non-English countries. Everything is in English, which greatly impacts their ability to figure out most things for…
tripzilch on HN
Add syntax highlighting
From 3 comments
I just wish it featured some JS syntax highlighting, true to spec JS linting (drop a semicolon and the parser errors) and perhaps CoffeeScript support. Not sure what the…
NuZZ on HNthis is sweet. i was recently throwing around the idea of a visual code progression alongside the actual execution as a form of tute/documentation (sort of like docco…
leeoniya on HNSyntax highlighting would be great indeed, I didn't implement it because it didn't seem like the most important thing to do. The project is open source though, so if you would…
janpaul123 on HN
Better error messages and suggestions
From 1 comment
This is awesome. How to make it even better? 1. Add some of the really nice error parsing and automated suggestion heuristics from Khan Academy's JS editor…
asb on HN
Add CoffeeScript support
From 1 comment
I just wish it featured some JS syntax highlighting, true to spec JS linting (drop a semicolon and the parser errors) and perhaps CoffeeScript support. Not sure what the…
NuZZ on HN
Questions
How is localization done
From 1 comment
How is the localization done? I'd be interested in a german version (and would contribute).
dirkk0 on HN
Would CoffeeScript compilation hurt performance
From 1 comment
How do you feel the extra step of compiling to CoffeeScript would impact performance and response time? I have been considering contributing in that direction.
goldfeld on HN
Alternatives named
Lightbot
From 1 comment
The robot dares reminded me of "Lightbot"[1], a game which I admire and think gives a great introduction to programming concepts, without going into the details of a programming…
whoeverest on HN
Codecademy
From 2 comments
The robot dares reminded me of "Lightbot"[1], a game which I admire and think gives a great introduction to programming concepts, without going into the details of a programming…
whoeverest on HNI also didn't find the actual tutorials below the fold at first. I thought we were supposed to start at the big game, which is rather complex for novices. Consider placing the…
facorreia on HN
Minecraft
From 2 comments
I showed it to my 12-yo son. He wants to learn programming. Right now he's able to create complex machines in Minecraft, which are similar to programs and to electronic circuits.…
facorreia on HNThis is very cool, we need more things like this in the industry. Easy entry, and instant gratification. The question that gets asked by every beginner in any field is "okay, but…
brokentone on HN
Karel the Robot
From 2 comments
The robots remind me of the Karol the robot... Very cool concept though!
spydum on HNKarel the Robot has definitely inspired the robot interface!
janpaul123 on HN
LabVIEW
From 1 comment
This is very cool, we need more things like this in the industry. Easy entry, and instant gratification. The question that gets asked by every beginner in any field is "okay, but…
brokentone on HN