I started off with batch, using "echo", "choise" and "if errorlevel" commands..
From that I went to HTML/java-script and from there to C++....

If he want to code games (without DX and stuff like that), java-script is the way; when you understand java-script, it won''t be a large step to start programming simple games (card games, tetris clone, pacman, snake and so on), it can easily be done putting images in a HTML document, and changing these....

After I started JavaSript, it took me two months to figure out how to make a Snake game, a night to code it and an hour more to code a very simple AI (10+ lines) (11 years old, and my first AI, damn I was proud at that time..)...

Hmm, what I''m realy trying to say is: 10 years, isn''t that a pretty young age teaching your kid how to be antisocial? He''s got his whole life to learn that, right?

Some people are just born to be a geek. Like me. It''s fate

Wow, so many opinions! May as well chunk mine in here too. At the ripe old age of 29, I have been programming since I was 9 years old (Started on a Timex Sinclaire 1000 with a whopping 2K of memory!! What a BEAST!!). Anyway, if he''s a "smart" 10 year old, present him with a few options, and let him choose. Maybe give simple explanations of the advantages/disadvantages to 3 languages and let him go to town! If he really wants to learn, he''ll absorb what ever you give him like a sponge. As a person who programs in C++, PHP, VB, HTML (if you can call it programming), I would highly recommend he steer away from "Scripted Languages" such as java-script and VBScript. I Personally would encourage some form of BASIC that can be fully compiled into an exe file(currently I''m looking into Blitz3D, and it looks pretty good). However, he should be able to handle anything(even ASM..uggg...can''t even say it...**shudders**) as long as he is passionate about it, and has some good learning resources.



"So many ideas! Never enough time!"

I know some good things have been said but I really agree the kid needs to play outside or something. Programming tends to be a pretty solitary hobby. Developing such a personality will probably make the kid anti-social. Try introducing him to BASIC around 13 and maybe if he likes it teach him C++ at around 15 or 16. I''m 15 and I really don''t want someone else acting like me. I mean I got friends but I tend to perfer being by myself most of the time. I''m not parent so raise the kid how you want but this is just my 2 cents.

Bleu Shift - www.bleushift.tk

When I was 10, I started with BASIC on a texas instruments computer. Next was an apple IIe at school, then batch files n a neighbor''s pc. Soon I was attempting to make screen savers in QBasic on my pc. I started getting interested in the power of c++ around 16 and started out learning MFC until I could learn to program in c++ by itself.

-James

He really should go out and play or something.

Learning a language at 10 years of age versus, say, 16 has very little benefits, but you''re basically taking away the best parts of childhood. It''s not like there is some kind of rush here, he''s got the rest of his life to sit in front of a computer screen all day figuring out problems. Let him have his childhood, because without it he will lose imagination, and that is one of the most important aspects of a programmer. A programmer needs imagination to make a good game or tackle a problem from a different perspective.