Scratch
Block-based visual programming language and online community from MIT, aimed at kids.
Recommended for teaching kids to program with no setup1234, and many commenters credit it as their first step toward a programming career.5678 Caveats include painful lag on very large projects9 and reported security flaws such as SVG-based XSS and claimed code execution.10
Why people recommend it
Teaching kids · 3
Parents and teachers use it to introduce children to programming.
“I use scratch to teach my kids programming.”
“My kids are learning on Scratch. 10 and 9 years old, been doing it for a few years at this point.”
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“Grades 3-5 use Scratch.”
Career gateway · 3
Several commenters say Scratch was their first programming experience and led them into computing careers.
“scratch was the trigger for me just as you say.”
“I used scratch in cs50 to make a music platformer. I would say it led me down a career in computing”
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“Scratch is how I first learned programming.”
Surprisingly capable · 2
Kids build games, pathfinding, raycasting and file saving, and some prefer it over switching to Python.
“My kids are learning on Scratch. 10 and 9 years old, been doing it for a few years at this point.”
“Proceeds to make games and stories with graphics, sounds and interaction, which they share with their friends, fully editable and runnable in a web environment with zero setup”
Zero setup · 1
Projects with graphics, sound and interaction run and stay editable in the browser with zero setup.
“Proceeds to make games and stories with graphics, sounds and interaction, which they share with their friends, fully editable and runnable in a web environment with zero setup”
Focus on logic · 1
It abstracts away details so students can focus on logical building blocks.
“Scratch abstracts away a ton of stuff to allow the student to focus on logical building blocks”
Physical computing · 1
It pairs well with a Raspberry Pi for controlling LEDs, buttons and sounds.
“I would recommend installing Scratch[1] - it's a programming language designed for kids from 8yrs old onwards.”
Caveats and dissent
Large-project lag · 1
The editor can become painfully laggy at around 10,000 blocks.
“Scratch is how I first learned programming.”
Security flaws · 1
One commenter criticizes an SVG XSS fix done with regex and a public post claiming every version is vulnerable to arbitrary code execution.
“I'm sorry because I love the scratch project”
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“I have a number of these pieces in a binary I drop first thing on every agent computer”
Threads where it came up
- λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study 4 mentions
- Has early Scratch experience led to fulfilling careers? 4 mentions
- OpenChamber: An Agentic Development Environment 1 mention
- The Woes of Sanitizing SVGs 1 mention
- Ask HN: Chromebook Leads for K-8 School In Need? 1 mention
- Moving Scratch generation to Python on browser 1 mention
Also written as scratch. Data: scratch.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 12
“most of my students (I have taught thousands) report having their first programming experience in Scratch”
“Proceeds to make games and stories with graphics, sounds and interaction, which they share with their friends, fully editable and runnable in a web environment with zero setup”
“Scratch is how I first learned programming.”
“I've been spending a lot of time with my nephews working on Scratch and Snap.”
“scratch was the trigger for me just as you say.”
“I use scratch to teach my kids programming.”
“My kids are learning on Scratch. 10 and 9 years old, been doing it for a few years at this point.”
“I used scratch in cs50 to make a music platformer. I would say it led me down a career in computing”
“I'm sorry because I love the scratch project”
“Grades 3-5 use Scratch.”
“Scratch abstracts away a ton of stuff to allow the student to focus on logical building blocks”
“I would recommend installing Scratch[1] - it's a programming language designed for kids from 8yrs old onwards.”