Ask HN: Helping a teenager learn software development fundamentals
A close friend&#x27;s teenager asked me to help him learn to code. What I promised was that I would look for resources that he could use to learn the fundamentals so that he could start building tangible things.<p>He&#x27;s been interested for a while (and has done some coding at school), but what has tipped his interest is an elaborate strategy board game he&#x27;s designing that involves updating levels of resources and strength at each play. The game is a ton of fun (at least for his adult beta testers), but it&#x27;s a lot of work for him as the &quot;central bank&quot; to manage everything by pen and paper. A spreadsheet could help, but he&#x27;s started imagining more possibilities.<p>I want him to build a real foundation. That means things like understanding the command line and what it means to execute code in an operating system, how to set up a minimal development environment, etc. -- so that even if his first kick at the can is a command line assistant for his board game, he understands what he&#x27;s built.<p>Is this a good approach (it&#x27;s how I learned, but I&#x27;m definitely open to other approaches)? What resources do you think I should point his way?