The "Don't Patronize!" lesson is new and interesting to me. Come to think of it, I remember being first introduced to programming with Logo and its "drawing turtle" back in elementary school. While fun, it didn't spur much exploring for me then because I didn't see its possibilities out of that sandbox.
Only when I encountered C, a "real language used by adults!" did I really get interested...
Logo is misused. It was never intended to be a tool to teach programming. It was designed as a tool that made the conceptions of Euclidean geometry available to direct experience and interaction -- and I think it succeeded passably well. For instance, if I were asked to calculate the internal angle of a heptagon, the first thing I'd do is reach for my mental turtle.
Still, I think starting kids with C is a bit much. What's wrong with Python?
I started with TI Logo when I was 8 and it was fascinating because you had sprites and you could make animations with speed, directions, etc.
I don't like the author approach for teaching programming, I think kids in general need more abstractions instead of entering into CSS, Javascript, etc. I found in Alice 3D a better approach.
I learned Logo on the Spectrum and was entirely captivated. It had most of the elements of a full LISP package in there, the turtle graphics were one element.
The way it dealt with recursion, the way you can define new commands using old commands and chain them together, all these things made Logo fascinating. I remember writing a pretty good Eliza program in Logo. Don't think it's just about the turtle
Seconded. Logo bored me fast, maybe in part because I'd already experienced BASIC on our family Apple IIgs. When I was introduced to Pascal in high school, I really got stoked. It's funny how vividly I remember the teacher and everyone in class being totally aware that the week we spent on understanding pointers was going to be painful :)
Only when I encountered C, a "real language used by adults!" did I really get interested...