30 minutes to explain programming to a 15 year old

Question

I've been volunteered to sit down and talk about the life and work of a Developer with a 15 year old work experience student next week.

The catches are that

• I've got just half an hour, and
• I'll be just one of the people talking to her - other people in different roles in the business will also be running through the elements of their jobs with her throughout the day.

What should I cover, and what on earth can I hope to teach her in just half an hour?

I assume that she probably has no experience with development or programming.

Answer 1

The fundamentals of programming that exist in basically every programming language are:

• basic variable manipulation and usage (Allow for up to 10 minutes)
• variable types(string, int, char, etc.) (Allow for up to 5 minutes, can be combined with the first part)
• if's and comparative operators. (Allow for up to 5 minutes)
• for, while, and (usually) until loops. (Use the rest of the time, but not more than 15 minutes)
• Explain that the internet is an amazing source of information, and almost all languages have documentations on the internet. Explain a few common language's usages and give examples that they may have heard of, such as Java, JavaScript, C++, C, etc. (At the end)

*Should probably be done in respective order.

These are probably the most important things that could be explained. After all of this, if you have enough time, which you probably won't, try explaining graphics.

--The child(ren) is/are almost certainly perfectly capable of not being bored. Just give a few examples of things made by using programming.

Answer 2

First allow me to recalibrate everyone's expectations of what an educated fifteen year old can do or understand.

We're having one at my workplace for two weeks, who has no experience of programming. He knows how to operate a computer but is nothing like a “power user”.

We showed him how to query a database, and he's been answering questions and digging up factoids by writing his own SQL. We gave him a spreadsheet and had him compute some statistical indicators; math which was taught at school, but without the automation of a spreadsheet. And we gave him a bit of market research on potential suppliers, google-fueled stuff that must have felt pretty close to some of his school projects. At the moment he is working through a hands-on xhtml+css tutorial, which should allow him to edit some of our website next week. We did not try to impress him with our rocket science knowledge or magical powers, and he has been making himself useful to us doing things suspiciously close to programming.

Now with 30 minutes, you could start by asking her what she's seen that day, what she thinks you're involved with, explaining your role in the company, giving her a quick (prepared in advance) demo of something you work on (or anything with a quick edit-run feedback loop, jsdo.it was a good suggestion). Discuss things computers are involved with and find some she's interested in, or get her to contribute ways smarter programs could improve some activities. Half an hour is too short for practice but should be enough for a good discussion.

Answer 3

Creating a virtual world inside any computer that is dedicated to solve a given set of problems.

This is done by first understanding the problems, the modelling the required world, then explaining the computer what to do for given states of the world and inputs from the user.

This combines how I first understood it at a even younger age with the basics of the experience I have since gained.

Answer 4

What if you got like a Arduino or Netduino and used it as an example. Or some lego mindstorm (or whatever it's called).

Kids have a short attention span. Things happening makes it less boring.