The new ideas the kids had today

[hunterbridges]

• Text-based games
• Python
• Virtual Machines, C, C++
• Disassembler
• C or BASIC
• Cloud 
• 3D Games
• Things that can chase you (More HTML5 game stuff)
• Encryption Systems
• Objective-C, Node.js, PHP
• Designing a programming language
• Building for different platforms (iOS, Android, game consoles)
• Building a virus
• Core Wars
• Group/collaborative project
• Learning how to use Git
• Octocat the video game!

[broccolini]

Thanks for making notes! Some awesome/terrifying ideas here :)

[dgbeck]

• Text-based games Seems like a good project in that it is straight forward. Could pick from a bunch of languages as well.
• Python Seems cool but would be best in the context of a game, or something else they could dig their teeth into.
• Virtual Machines, C, C++ I think they can wait until high school for this.
• Disassembler Not seeing this.
• C or BASIC Again would be best in some sort of context, seems a little low level.
• Cloud Not sure exactly what that means.
• 3D Games In general I think 3D is a lot harder than 2D. Not sure many of the kids are ready for 3D.
• Things that can chase you (More HTML5 game stuff) Sure.
• Encryption Systems Boring.
• Objective-C, Node.js, PHP Seems a little technical, but possible. Again would be better with a fun context.
• Designing a programming language This could be cool. Lacks visual element but cool none the less.
• Building for different platforms (iOS, Android, game consoles) Definitely could see a mobile app / game being a hit.
• Building a virus They'll have plenty of time for this at home.
• Core Wars Not sure what this is.
• Group/collaborative project I agree with @mikefowler and others that it would very cool to setup a project or part of a project in groups, as long as we can keep the groups cohesive.
• Learning how to use Git
• Octocat the video game! Get them started now, recruit'em at 16!

Additional thoughts:

Having them develop a mobile app seems promising. They could do a game, a little utility app, social app, whatever. It might work well free form, pick what you want to do, if you want to do it in a group or by yourself. We could even let them pick what technology to use, if there are multiple techs that mentors are familiar with. Anybody have experience with mobile development and / or mobile frameworks? PhoneGap?

[kristjan]

These kids are hardcore. I believe this is the Core Wars of which they speak: http://www.corewars.org/

In that vein, for a hackathon here we just wrote a little AI game that might be accessible to them and can go arbitrarily deep: https://github.com/apartmentlist/listyswarm. It's closer to Sugarscape than to Core Wars.

The gist is:

• 2D world populated with robots and boxes
• Robots can move NSEW, pick up, and put down boxes
• If robots collide, they respawn at their respective origins
• Goal is to build the longest chain of boxes from your origin point, out
• Player gets N robots that can see their local environment (say, 2 spaces in any direction)
• Write the action method that each robot executes

We intend to set up a tournament server that people can submit their agents to, intra-company to start but we'd love some more players. Everything's highly configurable so far as world characteristics, victory conditions (thinking about a mode in which if you place a box on an opponent's spawn, they're eliminated), etc. and we're just at the stage where we need more agents to figure out how to continue designing and balancing it.

cc @alan-vb @bkempner

[kristjan]

BTW, screenshot: