Book that is easy to read and understand

[hkhk106]

I have a son who's in grade 8 and he is show a great deal of interest in computer programming. What is a good book for him that is easy to read, understand and detailed? Money is not an issue. Thanks

[Ancient Dragon]

There are none for him at this time. Tell him to wait a few more years to grow up a little and finish grade school. There are a lot of necessary things he probably doesn't know yet, such as a good foundation in algebra. In the meantime he should be concentrating on school subjects and just playing games.

[zoner7]

I don't have any books, but I've got an excellent place to start. I started teaching myself C++ about 2 weeks ago and have had a lot of success with several online tutorials. After sifting through the entire World Wide Web, I've found a lot more trash than noteworthy sites; however, two sites have been quite reliable.

http://newdata.box.sk/bx/c/ and http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/.

The first site is definitely more detailed and ultimately a better resource than the second. It is much more like a book than the second site. Unfortunately, I felt bored sometimes while reading, because the excess explanation was unnecessary.
Sometimes the brevity of the second site is nice, because more complicated concepts are not touched on and it dosen't over-explain. The only issues with it are that there are a few errors(I think) and that the more complicated concepts are touched on are explained so briefly that they better serve to confuse the reader than help him. But the latter book is always a good reference for clarification.
So the two sources work well when used together. They nicely make up for eachother's' flaws.

I hope this helps. As Ancient Dragon said above, it will be very difficult for your son to teach himself C++ without a teacher in 8th grade. However, I'd imagine that if he is extremely persistent enough and decent at math, he should be able to succeed.

[ithelp]

Thinking in C++ is written in pretty simple language.

[Salem]

How about LOGO?
It'll teach a lot of useful skills which will be useful, and the amount you need to know to get going is pretty minimal.
Once started, your son can progress at his own pace.

[UnsafeData]

I suggest he go to:
http://learncpp.com

The tutorials are very easy to read and well explained. The forums have little members and posts but it's pretty active. The people who do go there post alot, and the admin answers your questions there daily as well as in the comments.

I'm in eighth grade and I'm getting a grasp on this already.

P.S.: I HIGHLY disagree with Ancient Dragon.

[Ancient Dragon]

>>I'm in eighth grade
>>I HIGHLY disagree with Ancient Dragon
You are quite a bit older than that 8 year old who is only in 3d grade. :) You can at least read Dick and Jane book without stumbling over big words like run

[Brent.tc]

There are none for him at this time. Tell him to wait a few more years to grow up a little and finish grade school. There are a lot of necessary things he probably doesn't know yet, such as a good foundation in algebra. In the meantime he should be concentrating on school subjects and just playing games.

Though I do partially agree with you Ancient Dragon, I must say that since he has said that his son "shows a great deal of interest in computer programming", perhaps he doesn't wan't to "play games", but instead wants to learn HOW they are made.
I say this because this is how I started (programming)... well kinda.
I personally cannot sit and play a game on a computer... I can play a game for HOURS on an XBOX, but never on a computer (even if given a good controller). On the other hadn, I CAN sit in front of a computer and write code for hours (though many of the things I do should not require hours:) )

Also, I "started" in the eigth grade (started meaning I became interested and learned what needed to be learned prior to actually beginning to program)

Now, if what was meant by "son in grade 8" is that his son is in grade school and is eight years old. Then perhaps that is a different story, though I do know of a couple of people who began programming, and even more advanced computer... things... at even a younger age than 6.

So... whatever.

Oh... in case you're wondering, I am currently in 10th grade, and though I may be far behing you, starting "early" gave me a very strong advantage over those in my same age-group.

No offense was meant by this comment, and if it does offend... though I see no reason it should... I apologize

[Ancient Dragon]

I reread the original post and you are all correct -- the kid is in the 8th grade, not 8 years old! That's why I said he needs to just play games for a couple years. My apologies to everytone who tried to correct me. Most kids in 8th grade are probably 12 or 13 years old -- thats a lot different than 8 years old.

[invisal]

Instead of discuss about the best book, why not discuss about the best language for him to learn?

hkhk106, you are great father :D

[sarehu]

Don't start him with C++ (I mention this because you posted in the C++ forum). I remember trying to learn C++ in high school on my own; it was horrible, mainly because it has quite a bit of complexity whose purpose doesn't become clear immediately. It did not help that I had a pretty bad book.

There's no perfect book, but I can think of one recommendation. That is How To Design Programs, available online at http://htdp.org/ and also available in book form. Another recommendation is that he can always ask questions in the Legacy & Other Languages forum here (since that book uses the Scheme programming language), or at some other website or internet resource I suppose.

Another recommendation is that he download Factor and play with that, but this is meant as a supplement, not as a replacement, of the get-a-book idea. There are no books that I know of on the Factor programming language (and the documentation's kind of sparse), but I think that might be a great environment for a beginner to play in (if he looks at some examples online), based on my experience with a similar language when I was in high school.

[invisal]

Don't start him with C++ (I mention this because you posted in the C++ forum). I remember trying to learn C++ in high school on my own; it was horrible, mainly because it has quite a bit of complexity whose purpose doesn't become clear immediately. It did not help that I had a pretty bad book.

I totally agree with this point . Starting with learning C++ is like dis-motivate him from programming because of its complexity and taking-long-time-achieve-small-goal. I would suggest him a BASIC kind of language to reduce the complexity and the nice interface (kid like beauty)

[CPLUSCPLUS]

For my freshmen programming students I recommend one book which I find to be quite helpful for most. If he sticks with it to the end he shall find a thorough grounding in computer software and hardware:

"Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software"
by Charles Petzold

It's available at Amazon.com.

Tell your son that "Knowledge knows no age, and curiosity knows no limits."

All the best to him.

[thetechguy]

8th grade ... ahh.. only 4 years ago ....
I believe that's also when I had an interest in programming. Personally I like game programming books, they're really fun and after you've read through it, you have yourself a cool a little game that you can brag to all your friends that you made. one of my first programing book.. was game programming for teens, this book will introduce him to a beginners type of programming language and you make some great with it. And it was written by a 16 year old! So remembering what I was into back then a book like that would be very cool! =)

[sumtaru]

C++ by E.Balagurusamy is a god book
Also visit http://www.cppbasics.com