I think many of you have completely forgotten what sucked you into hacking.

Here's how to get a kid hooked on programming:

  1. Programming should be fun.
  2. Programming should be fun.
  3. Programming should be fun.

Who really cares if a child isn't using "good programming practices"? When I started writing code, it was downright shameful.

But in time, my internal desire to advance my art led me to nuking my globals and having some kind of naming standard. Eventually I fell in love with elegant languages.

Give the kid a fire. Let him decide if he wants to improve himself over time.

When I started, I just wanted to make games. Not learn Greek. Kids just don't care about Python or Ruby's elegance.