My Daughter, the computer whizz

[miss_s_b]

So, when I put Holly to bed tonight she told me she'd like to show me a game she had "written in Notepad". I was thinking she had maybe written a story that had some choose your own adventure elements, cos she's been reading a few choose your own adventure books of late.

"I did two," she said "but the first one's not very good."

So I sat down and she started up her laptop and opened a Dos window.

"I found a video about how to do this on YouTube" she said, as she typed in the filename and hit enter.

And it was a text-based adventure game, but not like a book. It was like those text based adventure games we all used to play as kids. Press l for left, r for right, etc. With plot and humour and twists and silliness and... And this was just the first one! The second one was even better - about four times as long, with proper consequences to your choices, starts directly from windows, and when you've finished the game and hit exit it says "Batttteeerrrryyyy ddyyyyyyying........ goodbye" and then closes the Dos window.

She had a snow day from school today, and this is what she's done with it. Decided she wants to make a game, realised that she doesn't know how to code, researched how to code on the internet and then written TWO games by typing code into Notepad and then running it. In one day. ONE DAY!

This?
This is my stunned face.

Comments

[karohemd]

Wow, very impressive indeed.
What did she use?

[miss_s_b]

I have no idea. The only code I know is html

[karohemd]

Might be this because it works as a DOS batch file which sounds like what Holly did.
Ah, no youtube embedding. Link

[miss_s_b]

That looks like what she must have started with, yes. There's a lot less about dragons burning the world and stuff in it though.

[karohemd]

Heh. What was hers about?

[miss_s_b]

Great big firebreathing dragons. Lots of them.

[karohemd]

D'oh, that's what you said. I need sleep.

[davegodfrey]

Has she seen Reign of Fire then? (If she hasn't it might have to wait until she's a little older- but I think she'd enjoy it)

[missdiane]

Holy moley - go Holly!

I'll have to feed that info to my parents so they can feed that to my lame-o relatives in Texas. Yeah, the nephew has a black belt - so what? Gee, and Holly isn't even homeschooled! ;)

[miss_s_b]

Holly didn't get on well with the lack of fidgeting required in karate. The aspie thing, she can't stay still.

[hellokitsune]

Yay for Shrublette!

[boxcarwilly]

That is SO COOL.

[pseudomonas]

Yay!

[veganhothead]

Holy Holly! That's damn impressive!

How old is she now?

[miss_s_b]

9. she's 9.

[veganhothead]

It seems like yesterday we were all awaiting the arrival of Baby SB.

Time flies.

[miss_s_b]

I know it seems like yesterday to me too.

[rmc28]

Yay, go Holly :-)

[sir_guinglain]

Your daughter is a genius.

[andrewhickey.info]

That's absolutely wonderful!
If you want to encourage her with that kind of stuff (and of course you do), then I'd suggest pointing her to Inform 7 -- http://inform7.com/ . It's a programming language specifically designed for writing text adventures in, it has wonderful documentation, and the language itself is actually very like the "ten hundred words" English -- the following is the code for a (very) short game:

Escaping is an action applying to nothing.
Carry out someone escaping:
    let space be the holder of the person asked;
    let place be a random room which is adjacent to the space;
    let way be the best route from the space to the place;
    try the person asked going way.
Every turn:
    if Clark Kent can see kryptonite, try Clark Kent escaping.
The Daily Planet Newsroom is a room.
Perry White's Office is west of the Newsroom. In Perry White's Office are a desk and a poster of Elvis. On the desk is a lead-lined box. The box is openable. In the box is the green kryptonite crystal.
The Supply Closet is east of the Newsroom. The Elevator Bank is north of the Newsroom.
Clark Kent is a man in the Newsroom. "Clark [if Clark can see the kryptonite]looks a bit ill[otherwise]is here, frowning as he revises his latest article[end if]."


If she's doing stuff that good with DOS batch files or whatever, then I'm certain she'd love Inform 7.

[drunkwriter]

This. I lack the discipline to learn any programming language whatsoever after Amstrad BASIC failed to conquer the world, but Inform is a great tool to play around with ideas and create small games.

[miss_s_b]

LOL I used to know BASIC

[staceyuk]

Thanks for the link. Holly has inspired me to have a go!

[andrewhickey.info]

No problem -- I tend to be a bit of an evangelist for Inform, because it's just about the most interesting, *fun* programming language I've ever come across, and is very tailored towards people who are interested in writing stories.

[yoyoangel]

This is my very impressed face!

[http://www.nickbarlow.com/blog/]

I could program simple things in Basic on a ZX81 when I was around nine or ten...but no, she's still way more impressive. She'll be running the world within ten years, won't she?

[nadriel]

Nice.

[andrewducker]

That's ace! Long may it continue!

[nanila]

Magnificent! I hope she carries on.

[freddiefraggles]

Huh.

I've decided I want to be Holly when I grow up.

[drunkwriter]

From first principles to a working game on a snow day. At the age of 9. That's... prodigious. Will you/Holly put it on the internetular device? Preferably in a format so we have to type it up ourselves, because I've missed those BASIC type-in programmes from 8-bit computer magazines.

[staceyuk]

Impressed! Wish I knew how to code. I will try to look up that resource she found. I think the universe might be trying to tell me something.

[shishmish]

Well colour me stunned, she did that all in one day? At the age of 9? Bloody awesome. Clearly she's tech inclined, but then aren't most kids these days? Scary to think a 9 year old knows more tech stuff than me!

[ponygirl72]

I, for one, welcome our future Shrubbly Overlord.

[karohemd]

*like*

[davegodfrey]

Ia! Shrub-Niggurath Ia!

(yes, I am impressed too)

[perlmonger]

» Is impressed

Go Holly!

[lupinfriend]

That is wonderfully amazing! I am very impressed, and imagine you can't be more proud of Holly. When the time comes, you should encourage her to go for a degree in computer science. Most people go into that field to make games, but it opens up even more opportunities. My oldest daughter graduated university in May with a computer science degree, and just three months later was getting paid very well to program flight simulators that our Navy use to train their fighter pilots.

Well done, Holly! :-)

* snuggly huggles SB and her amazing daughter *

[bagfish]

Hee - that's fantastic :D Go Holly!