In my experience (nephews) Programming with Dark Basic gives them an instant ROI. It's the best modern equivalent to the Sinclair Basic that I started with. OK. Basic is a bit like programming with the training wheels on, but surely that's the point! The well intentioned posts talking about syntax etc. don't really matter and you already know that yourself. Dark Basic is a simple syntax that will allow games to be written. There are sample programs for most standard game types that means he's got a jump start into making fun stuff straight away.