(this is a translation of this original Dutch article on the Leiden University website)
If you want to learn how to program, you can find everything online, even when you're a kid. But how do kids know if programming is fun? What is programming, and what can you do with it? Before you learn children how to program, you have to get them enthusiastic first about the possibilities programming offers, and that is exactly what the new book “De Programmeerbende” does.
In the book 'De Programmeerbende' the worlds of books and computers come together. "But it's not a textbook or schoolbook," says Felienne Hermans, co-creator of the story. "It is an exciting story in which children program, but also experience exciting adventures such as a hack at school." Children learn to program while reading the book. The programs written by the main characters in the book can be copied by the reader himself in the Scratch programming language. Children can adjust these programs themselves to make their own computer programs.
The main character of the book is a fictional version of Felienne Hermans in her younger years. Hermans is associate professor of Programming Education at Leiden University. Inge Strijker, writer of "De Programmeerbende", is a researcher and teacher of HBO-ICT at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences.
On 26 February they present their book 'De Programmeerbende' with an interactive program and hand over the first copy to science communicator Ionica Smeets. The event will be in Dutch.
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The original post and programme can be found here