New language for Kids

[Sudev Mukherjee]

Hi Mentors,

Just saw that Google launched new Scratch like language, which could
be compiled to Python and Java Script including others. Give that some
of kids have done some scratch before we may try a lesson on this.
What do you guys think?

http://code.google.com/p/google-blockly/

Thanks,
Sudev

[Kevin Clark]

I was looking at this the other day - seems like a good idea.

--
Kevin Clark
http://glu.ttono.us

[Aaron VonderHaar]

Why not just use Scratch?

The demos that I see on there don't have any output functions except
for printing strings to the console. Am I missing something there?
Is there a way to do graphics, or control an SVG DOM or something like
that?

--
--Aaron V.
[ http://github.com/avh4 ]

[Kevin Clark]

It actually runs visually, in the browser, in the examples I tried.

--
Sent from my phone

[Aaron VonderHaar]

Ah, okay, I see now in the Maze demo where they're creating some new
blocks that bind to custom javascript code
http://code.google.com/p/google-blockly/source/browse/trunk/demos/maze/language.js
so I guess you could set it up to control whatever kind of environment
you wanted.

[Mark Friedman]

I'm working with the developer of Blockly.  Note that at this point it's more of a library for creating browser-based Scratch (or App Inventor) style Visual Programming Language environments than it is a complete application.  The demos are there to give a good idea for how to use and integrate the library into your own web apps.  As such, it might be a good starting point for someone who wants to build out a more complete app to give some kids a head start to writing code.

If any of you want to try and do something interesting with Blockly, feel free to let me know.  I might be able to get you connected to the developer.

-Mark