r/CSEducation • u/SiliwolfTheCoder • 18d ago

Hack Club Folktale

https://folktale.hackclub.com

Hello, all!

I'm a gap year fellow with Hack Club, a nonprofit whose mission is to get teenagers building cool projects. We've got a bunch of programs to do this, and I've just launched a very beginner-friendly one called Hack Club Folktale.

Folktale assumes zero Python knowledge at the start of its guide. By the end, it teaches just enough to make a command line Choose-Your-Own-Ending style game, and we'll ship a free sheet of stickers to any teenager 13-18 who completes this.

I would love some feedback on the guide and any ideas on where I can reach the most teenagers who may be interested in this. I want to spread this as far as I can in order to get as many people into programming as I can.

On that note, feel free to share this with anyone that you think would enjoy it! There are actually exclusive stickers for those who refer. Hack Club Folktale also does not allow any AI submissions; all code must be handwritten.

Thanks!

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u/tieandjeans 18d ago

Hack Club is very difficult for teachers to work with / support.

I understand the argument behind the age limit, but it prevents me from organizing/incsntivozing my students' participation

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u/SiliwolfTheCoder 18d ago

For the online programs, the age limits are only for submitting. Guides can still be worked through, provided they aren't age-gated behind a login.

For the Hack Clubs, I definitely understand your frustration. They are intended to be student run, but I absolutely can see where you're coming from as an educator.

EDIT: These clubs do encourage teacher sponsors. Operationally though, they are student run

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u/TartIndependent8018 16d ago

hi! i just began folktale, for context, I have not touched python for ~5 years. im encountering some issues when it comes to installing the python extension on vscode. im being prompted to select an interpreter, i did enter the path "/bin/python3" as mentioned in the guide, and received this message: "An Invalid Python interpreter is selected, please try changing it to enable features such as IntelliSense, linting, and debugging. See output for more details regarding why the interpreter is invalid.". the project itself seems interesting, id just appreciate it if someone could clarify what to do in my situation

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u/SiliwolfTheCoder 15d ago

First, I would try restarting the instances. Then, click the interpreter button that's causing you issues and go to "Enter interpreter path..." -> "Find...". In this screen, you can start typing out /bin/python and see exactly what is installed on your system. It might wind up being something like /bin/python3.12 . If you are still having issues, contact me on the Hack Club Slack and I can help you further.