This touches on the subtle but significant distinction between computer science (CS) as an academic field and programming as a skill or profession. I would say that not all paths to programming emanate from CS. But, practically, I'd say most people who get a degree in CS are not destined to work abstractly for life. Why does this matter to you? Are you worried about committing to a CS degree as a hobbyist programmer?
I think it's like a novelist who assumes they will find a linguistics degree fascinating, but the focus of writing a novel is actually very different from linguistics.
Congrats kid! It's a fun app incorporating strategic and visual play. The code is well structured and clean.
`onclick` handlers inline are a great way to get going with interactivity. One possible improvement could be to add event listeners dynamically after `load`.
Another challenge might be to move stuff outside of the global namespace, especially variables. For a challenge and possible improvement, see if you can implement a Singleton pattern.
Start practicing now with inline comments. In HTML and in JS. Build that as a good habit early -- it will save you and those around you countless hours in the future.
I'm down voting this because two of these three suggestions make the code more complicated for no actual improvement and probably aren't advice that will help a 9 year old, in my opinion.
I would suggest instead of inline comments write block comments, describing the behavior of a function or reasonably big and not straightforward section of code. Basically documenting what is not obvious just reading it without context.
Taking care of yourself means authentic emotional expression and it's crucial to health, as it reduces this internalized stress, helping to maintain both mental and physical well-being.
In The Myth of Normal, Gabor Maté argues that suppressing emotions, particularly anger, can weaken the immune system and lead to chronic illness, including conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS).
Maté explains that repressing anger -- e.g. due to societal or familial pressure to avoid conflict or "be nice" -- creates internal stress, which over time harms the body’s immune response. This chronic stress actually triggers autoimmune disorders, as the immune system starts to attack the body itself.
Crumb is from my small town in CA. During the fires, not so long ago, my mentor kept some of his old journals safe for his family. 10 or so notebooks full of doodles, all in one place. I can only imagine what that was worth! Much more, culturally, to be sure.
The 'lost day' occurred because the expedition had been traveling westward, in the same direction as the Sun. As they circled the globe, they were effectively chasing the Sun, which meant that each day was slightly longer than 24 hours. Over the course of their journey, these small increments added up to a full day. Thus, by the time they completed their circumnavigation, they had 'lost' one day compared to those who remained in one location.
I like the concept of chasing the sun. That should be a metaphor.
"And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking.
Racing around, to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older.
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death."
This company is definitely wading through the trough of disillusionment. Excited what root on the device could open up.
I have been disappointed in its hackability; however, the joy I receive when watching my 10 year old dive into a topic of his choice with this neon orange LLM is worth far more to me than the $200 for my R1. During these summer months I let him stay up late with this as his only glowing screen and he basically uses it like I used Encyclopedia Brittanica, except much more deeply and with more interesting subjects. I think it's a great little piece of purpose-driven hardware.
I dropped my own ChatGPT subscription and use this if I need to do some heavy lifting. I know it won't last forever, but it will last until the company goes bottom-up -- and longer if we get more boottime control through tools like this.
I would expect just as many hallucinations as "normal" from an OpenAI API endpoint. I agree that knowing the difference between facts and formatted content is good media literacy at any age.
ChatGPT/Open AI's API is such a good liar I have to fact check it externally on matters specific to my field of work for the last decade. I can't imagine being a kid expected to do the same with general knowledge provided by it and having no other sources made available to me while I use it.
That's not to say AI is wholly bad because of hallucinations but "just swag a guess based on your personal BS detector" is an unrealistic expectation for its use.
Ultimately it doesn't matter and that battle is already lost, even adults overly trust the output and never question it. I've had colleagues insist to my face that something wasn't possible in a piece of software I'm an expert in because ChatGPT told them it wasn't possible.
> however, the joy I receive when watching my 10 year old dive into a topic of his choice with this neon orange LLM is worth far more to me than the $200 for my R1
I saw somebody say that they really missed the mark by not making it a kid's device.
reply