Get them journalling

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A while back I mentioned some discussion on first programming languages for four-year-olds. I’ve been thinking about all this. If I could teach a child to do one thing from very young, it would be to start a diary or a journal.

One of the biggest regrets of my life is that I can’t remember that much of it. I’m lucky. I’ve been blogging for a while and I can go back and look at my posts from 20 years or so ago and get an impression of what I was up to. But if I’d had a proper journal I’d have a lot more to go on, including all the things that happened but are not for public viewing.

I envy the young of today who will grow up with a hinterland of pictures and sounds that will always be with them. Me, I can hardly remember what my bedroom looked like when I was 10. Perhaps 4 years old is a bit young to be emulating Samuel Pepys but getting the habit of putting in effort to remember what you’ve been up to is a really good thing. And these days there must be tools out there that you can use to get started. And writing a jounal does something else for you too. It gives you a reason to write and get better at it, which is a skill that will be useful whatever you end up doing.

First programming language for a four year old?

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People post the strangest questions on Twitter. Someone was asking about the best programming language to use to start teaching their four-year child old how to code. Perhaps they were asking in jest, or to perhaps to create the tweeting frenzy which followed as some people suggested Scratch and others weighed in saying that four is much too young. Which I think is the right answer. Although there’s nothing wrong with doing things together that show how much fun you have solving problems.

Instant Camera Fixations

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When I write a book I usually develop an obsession with something or other. It helps me take my mind off class constructor syntax or whatever I’m grappling with. For the Python book it turned out to be electronic music devices. For the JavaScript book it turned out to be robot dogs. this time it seems to be instant cameras. I’ve spent most of today writing chapter 7 and taking quick breaks to read all about the Mint TL70.

Another Ugly Camera

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A while back I bought a really ugly camera. Now I’ve got another. It’s a Lomo Instant Wide. It arrived today.

Actually, this one looks a lot better to my eyes than the previous one. It is painted plastic with faux leather stuck on, but it’s done with some attempts at style. It’s not new. I had a few fun minutes clearing muck out of the battery compartment to get it to work. But work it does. It’s another large format instant camera. This one has a bit more manual control and a remote control built into the lens cap. I’m looking forwards to taking some pictures with it.

She Hulk - Attorney at Law

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For the last few weeks we’ve been glued to She Hulk - Attorney at Law. It’s a fabulous piece of tosh with a female relative of the hulk coming to terms with being able to turn green and strong while trying to hold down a busy job as a lawyer specialising in superhero cases.

The casting is perfect, the tone just right and the stories great fun. We’ve really enjoyed it, right up to the last episode where it got a bit too clever for its own good. Theatrical and movie types talk about the “fourth wall” - an invisible boundary that separates the audience from the performer. She Hulk doesn’t just break the fourth wall, it folds it back on itself. What starts with pieces to camera while driving down the highway ends in a sequence which is one or two layers of “knowing” more than it needed to be. You might like it, I just found it made my brain hurt a bit more than it needed to.

But apart from that everything is splendid and you really should watch it. Another series would be wonderful.

Steam Deck

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It turns out that I don’t just buy cameras when I’m writing. I’ve managed to scrape together enough cash to get myself a Steam Deck. I didn’t really think I wanted one until I saw number one son’s. The idea of playing proper games on a handheld console was rather intoxicating. I hardly ever play games on my PC. They feel too much like work. The only exception to this rule is Microsoft Flight Sim. And that’s not a game. It’s a simulation.

Anyhoo, back to the Steam Deck. I joined the queue for the device a while back and I was very surprised to get to the front so quickly. Number one son had to wait a long time for his and I was digging in for the long haul when I got an email earlier in the week saying mine was ready for shipping.

Up until now my go-to handheld has been the Nintento Switch. The Steam Deck is bigger, but not in a bad way. It doesn’t seem that much heavier than the Switch, but it is definitely more bulky . The screen is very good, with great colours and contrast and the controls are good too. I think the best way to look at it is as a nice game controller with a screen stuck in the middle. There are ventilation holes in the back and the top and a fan which seems inclined to panic. It will be very quiet and then suddenly kick in with a roar for a few seconds and then go back to quiet again. I mainly use it with Bluetooth headphones, so I don’t see this as a problem, although I worry what would happen if I blocked the holes on the back of the device.

The integration with Steam is very impressive, although I prefer the store browsing experience on the desktop. Quite a few of my games are Steam Deck certified and just work. I’ve done no special setting up or anything and I’m getting a great experience right out of the box. The arrival of the deck corresponds with a nice Sega sale, so I’ve picked up a bunch of Yakuza games along with some other classics at very low prices. One of the great things about Steam is that their sales include things you can get at prices that you would never see on a console.

I’ve got the middle configuration of the device which has 256GB of internal storage, although so far I’m putting everything on a 256GB external SD card. More storage would be nice so I’ll be looking at oncoming sales to see what turns up.

There is a really active emulation community around the device which I’d like to get into later, but for now I’m quite happy on the sofa playing Yakuza.