Scalatron

Today's tidbit comes via the Scala mailing lists, and is one of the most delightful approaches to teaching a new programming language I've come across: Scalatron. It's basically a virtual Robot Wars environment, an arena in which players add bots (written in Scala) which compete for energy against each other and against the environment. Currently in beta, but the rules are available online, along with a nicely-detailed tutorial that encourages functional programming in a friendly and non-dogmatic way.

Sounds like quite a lot of fun -- a way to turn a day of learning programming into a head-to-head game...