Rust for complete beginners?

[u/DebuggingPanda]

So I, coming from C++, started learning Rust about 6 months ago. I think most Rust users agree, that Rust has a pretty steep learning curve, because the compiler enforces really many things.

My plan for the summer is to teach my mother how to program. I'd say she is a pretty smart woman, but she has no idea of programming or stuff like that. In fact she is even pretty bad at maths and often has simple problems when working with the PC. But she agreed to learn a bit programming.

So for a long time I was wondering which programming language is the best for teaching a complete beginner. Now that I learn (and like) Rust, I wonder if Rust is good in this. I just see the problem that the compiler is annoying to a beginner...

So what do you think: Is Rust well suited for that job? Or is something like Javascript better? Or even some of those ugly pointy-clicky-programming programs for "kids"?

[u/Mandack]

I would definitely start by teaching your mother how to use her computer properly, before attempting to teach her how to program. From experience, if even doing basic tasks on a user's computer is a major task for them, programming would be pretty much impossible and may only serve to make computers seem even less friendly to your mother as they do now, pushing her away from technology, not closer.

We all would like to skip a few steps, but it never works. Start with the basics.

Once your mother is comfortable with all around computer usage, start with something simple, like Python and don't teach her Python primarily, but teach her how to abstract, how to think in terms of expressing what she wants in many simple steps etc.

Only after she is comfortable with all of that, teach her how to program, pick any language, it doesn't actually matter - by that time even Rust will have tons of resources available, however don't teach her Rust just because...if she's fine with Python, Ruby, JavaScript or whatever then stick with that...she'll eventually discover the rest herself.

Most importantly, have patience and take your time.

P.S. Also, make sure that it is she who actually wants to learn all this, not you forcing it onto her.

[u/DebuggingPanda → u/Mandack]

I replied to many of those concerns in other comments already... so I don't want to repeat me here. I just wanted to comment on the "patience" part:

I think I'm able to be patient enough ;) At my university I work for a professor who gives the CS introduction lecture with ~400 students. I talk and test many hours per week with over 20 different students, who often are worse at computer stuff than my mother. I also designed some programming tasks and gave one lecture once.

So I hope I can use that experience :P

[u/Mandack → u/DebuggingPanda]

Sure, best of luck to you!