Evening · Technology

Code 'Hello, world' in Python together — install, run, modify

Their first line of code. Make the computer print their name. Then make it lie.

45 min ages 9–14

How to do it

Install Python 3 from python.org together — they pick the download button. Open Terminal/PowerShell. Type python3 and hit enter. Have them type print("Hello, world"). Their face when it prints. Now: print("Hello, {name}".format(name="Mateo")). Now write a tiny script in a .py file: ask their name with input(), greet them. Then ask them to make it lie — print someone else's name. They modify, they run, they see. The point isn't to teach programming. It's that they realize they can talk to a machine.

What you'll need

A computer with a keyboard
Free
Python (free download)
python.org
Free