I want to address one of the books in the Amazon link. 3D game programming FOR KIDS looks overwhelming even to me. The kid me would have looked a few pages and fell right asleep. I understand it isn't for the same age range as Linda's book but wow. This is the problem getting kids to stick with it. My manager talks about his kids just not sticking with programming. They go to classes and want to build things, but it is easier to play games than actually build them. Which is more valuable skill? Looking at the mockup images of Linda's book, it seems to bring kids real life scenarios with a programming ideology which is fantastic.
I only did a search for "programming book for kids" on Amazon. Maybe they all suck, maybe not. Maybe Linda's book will suck, too. I just want to know why a programming book written by a woman is presumed to be superior to programming books written by men. And I have nothing against programming books written by women - my question is why enter the gender angle.
Maybe men would be less likely to use a female protagonist, I haven't sampled the books content. Maybe not. So it's maybe nice to have a programming book with a female protagonist, but I doubt it is something only women would think of.
In fact I suppose if a man who has a daughter were to write such a book, he would be quite likely to make the protagonist female, too.
I think there's something to be said for having a female author to look up to, for young girls (and boys) in terms of dispelling programming stereotypes at a young age. And no, I don't think a man could accomplish the same thing. As far as the actual content though, no argument.
