Technology is becoming a part of everyday life. Every company, charitable organization, and cause can benefit from technology. There are apps to help you buy, give, join, play, volunteer, connect, share — just about anything you can imagine.

Have your children wanted to build their own level for their favorite video game? Coders do that! What about create their own phone app? They can bring that idea to life by programming it on a computer! Every program, game, system, or app they’ve ever seen was coded using the same programming building blocks they’ll learn in this book. When kids program, they take an active role in technology — they’re not just having fun, they’re making something fun!

Coding is the skill of the 21st century. Jobs today require more problem-solving ability than ever before, and more and more careers involve technology as an integral requirement.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that more than 8 million technology jobs will be created in just the next five years. Seven of the ten fastest-growing occupations in the 2014–2015 Occupational Outlook Handbook that do not require master’s or doctoral degrees are in the computer science or information technology (IT) fields.

Mark Zuckerberg was a college student working from his dorm room when he developed the first version of Facebook in 2004. Just 10 years later, 1.39 billion people were using Facebook every month (source: ). Never before in history had an idea, product, or service been able to engage a billion people in under a decade. Facebook demonstrates the power of technology to reach more people, faster, than ever before.

Learning to program is exciting if you’re willing to try new things. As you and your kids follow along with the programs in this book, try changing numbers and text in the code to see what happens to the program. Even if you break it, you’ll learn something new by fixing it. In the worst case, all you have to do is retype the example from the book or open the last saved version that worked. The point of learning to code is to try something new, learn a new skill, and solve problems in a new way. Make sure your kids are playing around — testing their code by changing something, saving the program, running it, seeing what happens, and fixing any errors.

The point of learning to code is to try something new, learn a new skill, and solve problems in a new way. Test your code by changing something, saving the program, running it, seeing what happens, and fixing errors if needed.

For example, I wrote some code to make a colorful drawing () and then went back, changed some numbers here and there, and tried running the program again. This gave me another drawing that was completely different but just as amazing. I went back again, changed some other numbers, and got yet another beautiful, unique drawing. See what you can do just by playing around?

Figure I-2. Three colorful spiral drawings I created by trying different values in a line of code in one program

Experimenting with code is a great way to learn how programs work, and it’s even more effective if you work with someone else. Whether you’re teaching a child or student or studying for yourself, it’s not just more fun to play with code together — it’s also more effective.

For example, in the Suzuki Method of music instruction, parents attend lessons with their child and even study ahead so they can help their child between lessons. Starting early is another hallmark of the Suzuki Method; kids can start formal study by the age of three or four.

I began introducing my two sons to programming when they were two and four, and I encouraged them to have fun by changing small parts of each program, like the colors, shapes, and sizes of shapes.

I learned to program at the age of 13 by typing program examples from books and then modifying them to make them do something new. Now, in the computer science courses I teach, I often give students a program and encourage them to play around with the code to build something new.

If you’re using this book to teach yourself, you can work with others by finding a friend to work through examples with you or by starting an after-school or community coding club (see or for ideas and tips). Coding is a team sport!

All the program files for this book are available at , as well as sample solutions for the Programming Challenges and other information. Download the programs and experiment with them to learn even more. Use the sample solutions if you get stumped. Check it out!