Can you learn to code on your phone?
Given the limited screen size and options for programming on your phone is it even possible to get a good grounding in a programming language just from a smartphone?
The benefits of learning to code have been pushed heavily to people of all ages as an option for upskilling or just becoming more computer literate. There are a lot of options out there, but I’ll just look at a handful and see if they are any good.
Coding games
Theses apps develop the ideas of building sequences, using functions, and conditionals but leave out variables and other useful constructs like while loops. These are clearly games, but a good introduction for younger kids or those not that interested in getting into the more serious side just yet.
Lightbot
I love the look of Lightbot, it was one of the first “programming” games I looked at for introducing kids to the principles of programming. The instructions are very clear and easy to understand. It introduces functions, or procedures as they are called in Lightbot world, quite early and does a very good job of using them in solving puzzles. It covers functions, calling functions within functions, iterative functions (a function calling itself) and conditionals. Although conditionals is a little clunky, it’s a start. It comes in two versions…
