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"Hedy: A Gradual programming language" by Felienne Hermans (Strange Loop 2022)

Strange Loop Conference · 17.4K views · 2022-10-18 · 40:57

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Overview

Felienne Hermans presents Hedy, a gradual programming language for teaching kids that moves through levels from almost no syntax toward full Python. The talk covers why error messages and syntax are scary for beginners.

On Hacker News

HN points to it in beginner-programming-education threads for its distinction between easy to learn and easy to teach.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2022–2024

Topics

Education & learningProgramming language designPython, Ruby & scripting languages
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hedygradual languageteaching programmingkidspython

What people said

dndn1 · 2023-01 · Recommendation

For 8yo, maybe you can consider bringing her through Hedy: [LINK] It's gradual (starts easy but limited, then with progress through levels gets more precise and powerful), and I read that it gets to full blown Python programming. Theres an excellent talk on the approach by the author: [VIDEO]

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ZeroGravitas · 2022-11 · Recommendation

This reminded me a little of Hedy language: [LINK] It starts off super simple, like: print something and then introduces all the fiddly concepts like quoting, escaping etc. 1 by 1 until it turns into python. The designer had a neat talk about it at the strange loop conference. One of the themes they talk about is the difference between "easy to learn" and "easy to teach" which I found insightful. [LINK] [VIDEO]

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sitkack · 2024-03 · Reference

[LINK] is spearheaded by the wonderful [LINK] you might know her from her spreadsheet related research. She gave a wonderful talk at Splash 2023 on Hedy, I'll see if I can find it. *edit, I don't think it was recorded but I found these two which will do Hedy: Creating a Programming Language for EveryoneFelienne Hermans • YOW! 2023 [LINK] "Hedy: A Gradual programming language" by Felienne Hermans (Strange Loop 2022) [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Strange Loop Conference, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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