Programming / Coding for Kids

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

PiRate Radio

Turns out the Raspberry Pi can do more that just computing. It can send out signals over FM airwaves. It’s perfect for users who’ve dreamt about starting their own pirate radio station.

Some basic tools like a soldering iron, wire cutters, and an FM radio can come together to make a local FM radio transmitter. The video claims it can cover an entire football stadium.

Read more: http://www.itpro.co.uk/mobile/21862/raspberry-pi-top-10-projects/page/0/1#ixzz3GUL92BUW

 

[Deleted member 28206]

Told ya.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

He'd be well into doing a Pirate Radio station, that's RIGHT up his street.

I can just see it now, 400 kids from his school outside the Co-op with their beats plugged into their phones having a silent shindig to some radio station with a Pi based name such as Radio Raspberry, time to PiJack the Airwaves.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

When I've asked folk about the Pi's though the only thing that they say their kids have done with them is Gather Dust.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Another alternative could be to encourage him to play games like this instead?

http://eterna.cmu.edu/web/

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

For video editing I used Sony Vegas and Adobe After Effects. For the 3D stuff I used Cinema 4D, really high end professional program though. All of them are really but a few beginner YouTube videos will have you going in no time, trust me. They do seem daunting but once you get the basics, you're sorted.

There's thousands of videos out there to get people up and running. If I could do it at the ages of 14 I'm sure anyone can.

If you need any help just give me a shout and I'll see where I can point you with them!

Little edit - If you can, push the 3D stuff as much as you can if it's enjoyable. Two people who I used to watch religiously on YouTube have done work for TV Companies in UAE, games companies and one even worked for Manchester United!

ordered his camera, and looked at those progs that you said but tbh the laptops are a bit old and not up to the job, so been looking for a new 1 for him (tbh 1 for daughter as well but she'll probs be using it for totally different things to him) what will I need to be looking for for doing all this kind of shiz ?
will I need 1 with a specific gHZ or certain graphics card ?
there's lots available really for a range of prices i.e. not the latest model kind of thing thats reduced drastically.

such as this (although a little bit more than wanting to spend really)
New Toshiba S Pro 3.8GHZ 4GB Ram 500GB HDD Slim Line, Win 8.1 Laptop


lots of chromebooks and such as well in Argos Clearance ob ebay actually just noticed that having thought that was 3.8ghz its actually 1.95 x 2 (dual core)


recommendations please !!

'koff with yer 2 grand macbook pro air pad @Bryan

 

[Millea]

My old PC was proper terrible and still managed to run them pretty well, certain things did take a while but they will with almost any PC or laptop, anything 4GB of RAM and above will be decent enough as rendering things used the RAM from what I remember, no idea what GFX card was in my old PC but it wasn't anything special I can tell you that.

Sorry if this doesn't help much, not the best with computer specs if I'm honest @Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian

 

[DualityNSNO]

PC specs for a programming PC? What kind of programming? Cuz if it's nothing graphics related (like graphical programming, etc) - any would do. Programming usually takes up RAM and needs a good processor anyway, as @Millea said, so anything above 4GB would work a treat. C++, Python, C#, and most of them, don't really have any graphics anyway, or if they do they're very simple. At least not at the start, afterwards you can do some cool [Poor language removed] and put that IN a graphics interface...

TL;DR - I'd look for RAM and a good processor, with any gfx card. Uni PC's can run pretty much anything and have those crap Intel ones, but ace processors and at least 8GB RAM.

 

[RaleighBlue]

Depending on what your programming you'll have a different aim for your CPU. It what you're working on is highly multithreaded then more cores are better. If you're single threaded then prioritize core speed over number of cores.

RAM is delightful, of course, and depending on your IDE (and work habits) spectacularly important. I wouldn't work with less than 8...and I'd grumble at 8 - 16 would be better, 32 makes me happy.

Video card is only important if what you are programming will rely on a good video card, and only then so you can run your program for debugging. So unless you're doing rendering I wouldn't worry about it.

Disk speed can also be useful. SSD's do tend to improve compile times, and definitely will improve the speed at which you can work. Not necessary though, and can cost a fair bit if you need loads of space...and if you're not working on a large codebase, then the gains may still not be worth it.

 

[Deleted member 28206]

ordered his camera, and looked at those progs that you said but tbh the laptops are a bit old and not up to the job, so been looking for a new 1 for him (tbh 1 for daughter as well but she'll probs be using it for totally different things to him) what will I need to be looking for for doing all this kind of shiz ?
will I need 1 with a specific gHZ or certain graphics card ?
there's lots available really for a range of prices i.e. not the latest model kind of thing thats reduced drastically.

such as this (although a little bit more than wanting to spend really)
New Toshiba S Pro 3.8GHZ 4GB Ram 500GB HDD Slim Line, Win 8.1 Laptop


lots of chromebooks and such as well in Argos Clearance ob ebay actually just noticed that having thought that was 3.8ghz its actually 1.95 x 2 (dual core)


recommendations please !!

'koff with yer 2 grand macbook pro air pad @Bryan

MacBook air.

£550 off Apple, get them learning Python & cocoa with objective c. Swift is the new one which I eventually believe will power ARM processors on some eventual OSX hardware.

Also, search #hourofcode on Twitter

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

MacBook air.

£550 off Apple, get them learning Python & cocoa with objective c. Swift is the new one which I eventually believe will power ARM processors on some eventual OSX hardware.

Also, search #hourofcode on Twitter

yeah but would it be able to do all the video editing etc that he wants to do ? being bottom end apple like.
PLUS I'd then have to be paying for software and shiz ... wouldnt I ? and it also wouldn't be compatible with all the other stuff we have.

 

[Millea]

yeah but would it be able to do all the video editing etc that he wants to do ? being bottom end apple like.
PLUS I'd then have to be paying for software and shiz ... wouldnt I ? and it also wouldn't be compatible with all the other stuff we have.

Defo will be able to video edit.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

Defo will be able to video edit.

will it be fast enough for those 2 progs that were mentioned though ?

PLUS ~(and determining factor) daughter wants a laptop as well, not spenkin' £1100 squids on them .... cos not got, plus another kid as well, and when we have android phones & tabs then Apple aint on the agenda really.


so I'm needing to know what NON-APPLE type of lappy I need ? with Intel or AMD or what like ?

 

[Millea]

will it be fast enough for those 2 progs that were mentioned though ?

PLUS ~(and determining factor) daughter wants a laptop as well, not spenkin' £1100 squids on them .... cos not got, plus another kid as well, and when we have android phones & tabs then Apple aint on the agenda really.


so I'm needing to know what NON-APPLE type of lappy I need ? with Intel or AMD or what like ?

The program websites should have some page telling you the minimum computer specs you can have and then the "recommended" ones as well.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

Haven't even a clue how I came across this ? (oh yeah searching for 'kone' and it said kone bim) but this is like a version of Minecraft on Steroids really that could see your kid design you a new house, garden whatever if they learned how to use it....

http://www.thenbs.com/topics/bim/articles/isntbimjust3dcad.asp

When analysing the benefits of 'Building Information Modelling' it is often worth taking a step back and looking at a very simple example:

Consider an external wall (as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2). Within the latest CAD systems, walls are now three dimensional objects. The wall object is then broken down into the key products that make up its structure. For example, render, external brick leaf, cavity insulation, internal block leaf and plasterboard dry lining. Each of these is an object itself; this allows the creation of automatic schedules and quantity take-off. For example, within a click of a button, the number of bricks or the sheets of plasterboard within the building can be calculated.

BIM brings together all of the information about every component of a building, in one place. It makes it possible for anyone to access that information for any purpose, e.g. to integrate different aspects of the design more effectively. In this way, the risk of mistakes or discrepancies is reduced, and abortive costs minimized.

BIM data can be used to illustrate the entire building life-cycle, from cradle to cradle, from inception and design to demolition and materials reuse. Spaces, systems, products and sequences can be shown in relative scale to each other and, in turn, relative to the entire project. And by signalling conflict detection BIM prevents errors creeping in at the various stages of development/construction.




I'd imagine that someone is being paid an absolute mint to make a BIM of a Stadium for us ?




It has it's own world out there with places to purchase components etc

https://www.bimstore.co.uk/manufacturer/bim-world