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INTRODUCING HACK ‘N’ SLASH

Howdy!

I’m Brandon Dillon, the project lead on Hack ‘n’ Slash, Double Fine’s upcoming puzzle adventure game about hacking and reverse engineering.

When I was a kid, I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on betamax over and over and over again. I still think there’s more romanticism in the occupation of “treasure hunter” than just about anything else.

I’ve always loved games with lots of secrets in them, and when I first discovered a hex editor in an emulator, it dawned on me that I could be a kind of digital treasure hunter – no game could keep even its deepest secrets from me if I adventured log enough in its code and memory.

Hack ‘n’ Slash is a game about that mystery and romanticism. It’s rich in secrets, but with a bit of cleverness, you’ll be able to hack and slash your way to the heart of all of them.

Developing the full version of the game has been very rewarding because we’ve been able to take the hacking mechanics and make them real. You’ll mess with the game’s actual variables and dismantle the game’s actual code. We can’t wait to put it in your hands and see where you take it.

via Hack ‘n’ Slash.

Year of Code is an independent, non-profit campaign to encourage people across the country to get coding for the first time in 2014. Through code people can discover the power of computer science, changing the way they think about, and get the most out of, the world around them.We will be banging the drum for all the fantastic coding initiatives taking place over the course of year and want to help many more people engage with technology and access important training opportunities.Over the course of the year we will signpost national and community tech events, crowdsource funding to help parents, pupils and educational organisations. We will commission detailed polling and analysis on how we can take coding far and wide.

via Year of Code.

Four years ago, a friend lent me his Rails book and I took it with me on a family vacation and learned Rails. I was happy to discover that programming itself was fun, but also realized it was power. Anything I could imagine, I could build. Suddenly I was having new ideas about every problem I encountered, and the ability to act on them. It changed the way I thought.

Don’t believe people who say that learning to code is easy. Better to go in knowing that it’s hard and frustrating and that most of the time you will feel like you have no idea what you’re doing. There are a lot of people who will help you, at Meetups or on StackOverflow. But if you don’t know where to start, I made this site for you.

Have fun.

via teach yourself to code.

By KJ DELL’ANTONIA  MAY 12, 2014 1:25 PM

Coding is trending. In schools. Twenty thousand teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade have introduced coding lessons, according to Code.org, a group backed by the tech industry that offers free curriculums. Thirty school districts, including New York City and Chicago, have agreed to add coding classes in the fall, mainly in high schools but in lower grades, too. At home, parents are downloading programs that promise to teach children coding basics, and toys that can be coded in various ways are lining up for the next holiday season.

via When Kids Would Rather Play Computer Games Than Code Them – NYTimes.com.

By Richard Byrne

Ask anyone to share a favorite school memory, and it will likely involve making something from scratch. One of my standout experiences from elementary school was learning Logo, a graphic programming language. Logo’s still around—along with many new, excellent tools that teach kids basic programming skills. Other applications enable kids to build 3-D models, which they can print, too.

continue reading:  Teach Kids how to Code, Make Apps and 3-D Models With These Tools – The Digital Shift.

by Samantha Murphy Kelly

HELSINKI — Elementary school students in Finland could be adding coding and programming to their nightly homework routine in the near future.

Potentially following in the footsteps of neighboring country Estonia, Alexander Stubb — the Finnish Minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade — told Mashable that teaching basic programming skills to young kids in the classroom is on the country’s radar.

“It would be a great idea to have coding as a voluntary or otherwise subject in school,” Stubb says. “Kids today are growing up as natives to technology, and the sooner they get going, the better. It starts with games and familiarizing themselves with gadgets, and coding is a big part of that.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean first-graders will be developing apps. Rather, it’s part of an effort to encourage the development of tech skills at an early age. This doesn’t necessarily mean first-graders will be developing apps. Rather, it’s part of an effort to encourage the development of tech skills at an early age.

via Finland Eyes Programming Classes for Elementary School Students.