This wouldn't work for the same reasons it wouldn't work to have a k-12 school for theoretical physicists: (a) no one smart enough to understand the subject would want to work full-time teaching third graders, and (b) only a small fraction of people are suited by ability and temperament for this kind of work, and you can't select them at age 5.

It might work to have a specialized HS for hacking (hacking, not founding startups), but even there you'd face problem (a). Probably the best bet is for HS students interested in hacking to take courses at their local college-- which they do already.

Python is a great language to start, and even stay with. I've taught a few people to program in python. Very simple syntax, well supported, you'll love it and it will make a lot of sense. Start with python.org to download and learn.

.... and they call Lisp programmers "Smug Weenies"?

That said, there are two options if the OP _really_ wanted to use Pylons in Common Lisp.

One could attempt to run Pylons under cl-python[1], which is "a fairly complete implementation of Python written in Common Lisp". Cl-python is currently Allegro-only, and likely will not run Pylons without modification.

Alternately, there is Python-on-lisp, which is a FFI to an embedded python interpreter AFAICT. While it will likely be trivial to get Pylons running this way, the interface between the languages seems very low-level, and there does not seem to be any source translation from a sexp syntax to python.

I don't think either way is a good option honestly. If the OP wanted a python framework, they probably would have asked for one, and you could hold your head high rather than ducking ;).

But maybe school should be about education, rather than training? Broadening minds, rather than turning out cookie-cutter programmers. Teach someone how to think for themselves, start them in some (foreign) languages, introduce them to history and literature, give them the basics of mathematics and science, and they can easily learn programming and will have the broad base to come up with great ideas.

Hot-house them on 'how to launch a startup' and 'coding in Fortran' and you'll probably turn out legions of people very good at passing exams in 'structure of business plans (in the year 1999)' and 'syntax of Fortran', but when the world moves on they won't be able to adapt.

That said, I think your idea is sound, though your methods are wrong. A school should encourage creativity and intellectual development - that's how to produce your future YCombinators, journalists etc.

I think we're seeing the failure of the training model in India, where they do turn out legions of capable developers, but comparatively few capable entrepreneurs.

I guess I think that the best way to achieve your goal is actually closer to the current educational systems than one so directly and narrowly orientated towards the goal: education is more of a journey than a race.

Sorry.. This is probably the wrong question for you to ask :)

The first question to ask is, "What would I enjoy creating? A website? A video game?"

Based on that answer, you then choose the best tool for the job. Depending on the answer, you may only have one choice.

Can't miss these two, they're damn funny:

Part 1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/86921622@N00/1162778055/in/set-...

Part 2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/86921622@N00/1163633584/in/set-...

I've been a Xobni-skeptic since I saw the ads for product managers/QA people, office, etc. They appear to be doing a lot of obviously wrong stuff. I know they're smart and I do wish them luck, but it looks to me as if they're mostly interested in enjoying the funded startup ride.

PHP is awful.

(a) no one smart enough to understand the subject would want to work full-time teaching third graders

That's an awfully broad statement. I'm sure there can be found someone very smart that would be interested in contributing back to children... Woz comes to mind, as does Will Wright...

(b) only a small fraction of people are suited by ability and temperament for this kind of work, and you can't select them at age 5.

I think you're thinking along different lines than the poster. He doesn't look at this as starting a venture capital firm, but as a replacement for the broken public school system. The funding doesn't have to come from equity, but the general hypothesis smells right:

A good early schooling would allow those currently going to public school to create (on average) more wealth in the future. One could use a fraction of that (future) wealth to actually fund the school. From the little I understand, a lot of private Universities work this way - where a good chunk of their budgets comes from alumni donations.

Why can't this system work before college?

"Avoid: Perl, PHP, BASIC variants. These cause brain damage."

Many perl mongers, myself among them, would disagree. But maybe the brain damage has set in and I can't judge properly. But, really, you're showing serious ignorance placing Perl in the same sentence as PHP and BASIC. Perl is on the power continuum somewhere just shy of Lisp, and along-side Ruby (possibly even above it; Perl 6 will place it squarely above any other mainstream language on that continuum). Not liking the syntax is no excuse for misleading newbies into thinking Perl is in the same class as PHP.

Anyway, many a developer learned programming with Perl. Some even turned out good.

Wow. He must have been the worst startup employee ever. 13 half finished projects? At a startup this is worth exactly nothing.

Anyone who was around for the dot-com boom knows that the better the parties, the less likely the startup will succeed.

The xobni party looked so lame that the company is almost guaranteed to be very successful.

I found our office on craiglist. It is dirt cheap for SF. Oh, and we negotiated the contract so that we haven't paid a dime for the first 3 months.

When you are making another sticky notes web app QA might not matter, but when you are making fundamental business tools, I think it is one of the most important roles in a company.

Just curious, but would anyone recommend Javascript?

Preferred: Python. clean, elegant, pure, simple, easy.

Just fine: Ruby. good, but less simple and elegant than Python.

Good if you want to deeply understand the principles of being a programmer but don't care about being very practical at the start: Lisp (yes, Lisp can be practical, but it's trouble for a newbie)

Avoid: Perl, PHP, BASIC variants. These cause brain damage.

A system like YCombinator that starts at the K-12 level. Students would be trained in programming, art, writing, and other methods of creation. When they graduate they get $15,000 and one shot at starting a business. In return, the school gets 2-10% of the company.