Topics that should eventually be covered

• variables - what are they, what are safe and unsafe or annoying names, etc.
• various flow of control commands, like while, if, etc.
• building a multi-user game, or some sort of program that allows two or more friends to chat, draw things, etc.

Points that deserve attention

• The information flow should be carefully controlled - do not assume too much knowledge
• Difficulty: how to cater for everybody (some kids/grownups will pick it up quickly, others will be slower)?
• ...

Additional items

• In chapter 1: an overview of the book with recommendations how to read it (in detail). Also a table with the source files per section
• In chapter 1: a discourse on how to edit files
• Section on databases
• Example of how to produce a simple xy-graph
• Working with the Internet: a new chapter (suggestion brought to me by Setok)
• Appendix: simple geometry stuff

Posted at Aug 19/2003 06:14 AM:
Arjen Markus: several of the games I envision have an automated player, changing one of these into a two-player game would be quite nice!

Posted at Sep 03/2003 04:32 AM:
Arjen Markus: How should we incorporate contributions like the "literate programming" examples by Richard? (I am thinking of "copyright" problems if we present as written by the book's I figure. So present it as an explicit contribution by Richard?

Posted at Sep 04/2003 12:55 AM:
Richard Suchenwirth: Wiki pages (at least those written by me) are free as air, take what you want, but you might specify the original source with URL, so maybe more people discover the wealth of the Wiki :)

Posted at Oct 21/2003 12:27 PM:
Scott Beasley: How about a chapter on "Finding Help (information)" and Debugging? Things that many "real" programers have no clue about.

Posted at Oct 22/2003 12:11 AM:
Arjen Markus: Good suggestion! Yes, debugging is an important and rather ill-described aspect

Posted at May 29/2004 08:10 AM:
daniel am interested but how do i start