New kids in the block

[Marcelo Valentino]

Hey people!

So, I know the development of KTurtle has been rather slow these years. However, me and João Pedro Abreu de Souza, a colleague of mine from university, are part of a group that seeks to develop KDE applications, and KTurtle was our app of choice. We see its potential as an educational tool and would really like to see it back on its glorious track!

However, we are quite lost, and don't know exactly where to begin. So we ask thee, brave KTurtle developers, for guidance! Do you have any suggestions? Good material to get started? Perhaps there is a bug that needs fixing? We are sure that anything you say will be quite the big help.

We eagerly await your response! Cheers!

[Leo Barichello]

Hi Marcelo,

It is good to hear that people are interested on Kturtle.

I do like the software. It is a good middle ground between purely visual (block based) languages like Scratch and actual programming languages.

I was just checking the messages I exchanged here in the list or directly with developers and I could identify 2 big features that were discussed and could interest you:

1) Libraries

This is a very exciting idea!

It consists basically of enabling the user to load sets of functions that can be used as a function defined by the user.

One possibility would be a fourth tab on the Inspector panel where the user could search for libraries on kde-look, something equivalent or on files.

2) Alternate between vector and pixel drawing

The pixel option would enable erasing and colour detection, which are tricky with SVG.

My suggestion is to offer the possibility of alternate between modes.

What do you think?

If could is reborn, I would be very interested in helping propagate it and develop new resources for it!

Best,

Leo

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PhD Student | Centre for Research in Mathematics Education

School of Education | University of Nottingham

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[Marcelo Valentino Maia Leite]

Hi, pleasure to meet you Leo!

We have taken notes! Both suggestions are great. Would you be able to suggest us any good libraries for working with pixel drawing in C++ and Qt? And how would we make Turtlescript work with it?

Ah, and by libraries we suppose you want more interesting ways to draw with mathematical functions and such, correct? Could you guide us on that too? Maybe there is already a C++ library that we could integrate in Turtlescript?

A lot of questions, I know, but we are at the start of our work and still have a lot to study. Thanks a bunch!

[Leo Barichello]

Hi Marcelo,

Let me answer to your message bit by bit:

We have taken notes! Both suggestions are great. Would you be able to suggest us any good libraries for working with pixel drawing in C++ and Qt? And how would we make Turtlescript work with it?

Sorry, I am not a developer actually, but other people in the group may be able to answer to your questions.

 

Ah, and by libraries we suppose you want more interesting ways to draw with mathematical functions and such, correct? Could you guide us on that too? Maybe there is already a C++ library that we could integrate in Turtlescript?

The original idea was to import libraries written in kturtle script, just like it can be done with the learn command. This would enable the user to import libraries developed by others but also read/understand the code if they wanted.

The advantage of this would be, for example, the possibility of a teacher to have some libraries that he could use with his students although he did not have to develop from scratch with them.

I would do that for probabilities for instance. With younger students it would be very useful to have a library that emulates dice or coins throws without having to go through the details of the code.

Do you get it?

 

A lot of questions, I know, but we are at the start of our work and still have a lot to study. Thanks a bunch!

Feel free to contact me and if nobody else in the list is interested, we could move this discussion to our personal emails and just post the updates in here.

Best,

Leo

[Marcelo Valentino Maia Leite]

Ahh I see! Indeed, having Turtlescript libraries would be pretty cool!

Let's stay in touch. Don't hesitate to send me an email if you have any other ideas in mind! Cheers!

[cies]

Hi Marcello.

Thanks for showing interest. I think there is one most requested feature: should compile for windows.

If you can code it in a way that it compiles both with KDE, and without KDE (only Qt) on windows.... That wouls be totally awesome and reeeeeally increase adoption for what I've heard over the last years.

I chose the only KDE route because a KDEonWin was promised. But it never took off.

That's it. If you need any more guidance, please do not hesitate and ask.

Kindly,

Cies.

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[Marcelo Valentino Maia Leite]

Hi Cies, good to meet you!

Making it work on windows is among our ideas, although we're not sure when to do that move. 

It would, however, be pretty interesting to know how you would go about making KTurtle KDE "independent"(as in making it optional instead of mandatory for the program to function). It would help a lot!

Thanks!

[cies]

okay. I know some KDE apps already have a Qt-only option at compile time. I forgot which apps, but you should be able to ask for this on a KDE forum/IRC channel and then you can have a look at the source code of that progrma to see how it is achieved.

[Marcelo Valentino Maia Leite]

Cool, thanks for the help! We will have a look around the forums and see what we can find.

Cheers!