Coder’s Side Hustle Helps Kids Learn Computer Programming

At age 10, Meka Egwuekwe knew precisely what he wanted: his own computer. He thought that gaming and the ability to write mysterious languages were both mesmerizing. After pleading with his mother, a single parent in a lower middle class Memphis, Tennessee, neighborhood, he clinched his most coveted Christmas gift – a TI-99/4A home computer. Not only could he play games, but with the accompanying book, he taught himself to program in Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (Basic).

“My first program made my name move across the screen,” Egwuekwe recalls. “I was completely hooked.”

Continue reading the original article here: https://www.theguardian.com/side-hustle/2015/dec/16/code-kids-computer-programming-codecrew-memphis-meka