Logo on SteroidsThe new video game Kodu will teach you (or your kid) about programming. It's also actually fun.

Three cheers for systems thinking.

"It also makes you realize that, even when you write the rules yourself, understanding the whole system isn't as easy as understanding each individual part."

That's also a great lesson for anyone thinking about all kinds of real-world complex systems, both human-generated (e.g. healthcare delivery systems), and natural ones (e.g. individual ecosystems, or the global climate). Having future voters have an instinctual grasp of stuff like the danger of positive feedback loops -- like Chris's trees producing an infinite loop of exploding fruit -- could help us deal with serious issues in real life. We need more citizens who can easily identify Donella Meadows' Leverage Points.

-- auros
(To reply, click here)

Is "Second Life" Kodu for big kids?

I've dabbled just a bit in the linden scripting language in this virtual world, enough to know that I'm not a natural.

It's fun, but I'd need ten years to mess around, I think, to actually get proficient.

-- ViajeroP
(To reply, click here)