> Integrating the physical world, graphics, controllers, sound, audio, network, video, etc. offers a lot more engagement than "Hello World".
While I can agree that there are more "interesting" things to occupy time, I disagree that simple things will always be beaten by a team of engineers. To use an example outside of programming and video games, there is a multitude of tricks you are learn with a deck of cards. You don't need elaborate magic rigs to be entertained.
Secondly, I'd recommend looking at what BASIC was capable of doing. I'm going to be showcasing the game "Missile!" (pg 35 of [1]) on an actual Apple IIe next month. It's going to take only 43 lines of code to have a GUI driven game. It's obviously limited, but designed to get kids interested in Computer Science. To produce the equivalent in a text-based programming language would require too much overhead - even in Python's case.
While I can agree that there are more "interesting" things to occupy time, I disagree that simple things will always be beaten by a team of engineers. To use an example outside of programming and video games, there is a multitude of tricks you are learn with a deck of cards. You don't need elaborate magic rigs to be entertained.
Secondly, I'd recommend looking at what BASIC was capable of doing. I'm going to be showcasing the game "Missile!" (pg 35 of [1]) on an actual Apple IIe next month. It's going to take only 43 lines of code to have a GUI driven game. It's obviously limited, but designed to get kids interested in Computer Science. To produce the equivalent in a text-based programming language would require too much overhead - even in Python's case.
[1] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxv0SsvibDMTVUExUjFhTURCSU0...