[CoLoCo] Programming environments for kids (was Re: Semi-OT: Looking for code)

[Neal McBurnett]

On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 09:25:41AM -0700, Jim Hutchinson wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 10:03 PM, TJ Heaney <tjheaney at gmail.com> wrote:
>     I am building a site with the express purpose of being a resource for
>     developers and students to locate and donate code to be shared with others.
> 
>     This idea was brought on by our discussion on (P)RNGs, and how
>     it would be very useful for a person to just find the code they
>     are looking for without having to stumble through adds or
>     anything like that.
> 
>     Currently, I am still setting up the site, so it is not
>     functional at this time. But, please, if you have code you would
>     like to donate, feel free to e-mail me off-list. No language is
>     going to be turned away.
> 
>  
> This seems like a great idea. My suggestion would be to set up a
> page on the ubuntu wiki. Yes, it could be "vandalized" but I don't
> think that has been an issue and you would get an email of changes
> so it could be fix. At least this would be a good way to start. It
> would take very little effort to copy and paste some code with a
> description of what it does. Others may contribute too and in time
> it could all be migrated to a dedicated site.

There are lots of programming environments for kids already out there
with nice code bases.  Lots of them are now packaged for Hardy as
part of the Sugar suite of packages, from OLPC.  Getting folks to
test those out and point out bugs is now a very high priority.

E.g. OLPC has pippy (python based) and it is in hardy now:

 http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/x11/sugar-pippy-activity

Etoys (squeak) is one very cool programming environment designed for
kids that works on lots and lots of platforms:

 Randal L. Schwartz talks with Leo about Squeak. He shows Squeak, OLPC
 and EToys.

 http://blog.blobworks.com/2008/02/20/squeak-on-lab-with-leo/

To get started yourself with etoys, see the Ubuntu install
instructions here:
 http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Etoys

(That is easier than the squeakland instructions which also make it
work with your browser.)

See also these tutorials:
 http://www.squeakland.org/whatis/tutorials.html

And other tips
 http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Smalltalk_Development_on_XO
 http://laptop.org/OLPCEtoys.pdf

For younger kids there is also the extensive set of logo and turtle
graphics implementations, the Alice multimedia environment, etc.


I suspect getting visibility and traction with a new repository would
be hard, and doing it in a way that doesn't expose kids to nasty stuff
(like what is happening on the ubuntu forums these days) is a
difficult task.

Neal McBurnett                 http://mcburnett.org/neal/