BYOB now available
April 29, 2010 at 10:56 am 6 comments
Just posted by Brian Harvey to the SIGCSE-Members list:
To Computer Science educators looking for a non-intimidating but powerful programming language for introductory courses, we offer the alpha test version of BYOB (Build Your Own Blocks), an extension of Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu), which is a visual programming language for young people in which programs are constructed by snapping together primitive blocks that control multimedia multi-character presentations. BYOB extends Scratch to include first class lists and first class procedures. These additions are all it takes to enable the construction, by the BYOB user, of arbitrary data structures (trees, hash tables, etc.) without needing primitive blocks for every structure. BYOB also supports object oriented programming, either using its native animated objects (sprites) or building the OOP facilities explicitly, so students will understand how OOP can actually work, based on BYOB's first class procedures. The plan is to release the final version of BYOB 3 in August (2010), but a public alpha test version (2.99) is available now at http://byob.berkeley.edu along with tutorial material in the form of Scratch projects (runnable in BYOB). This is and will remain free software, subject to the MIT Scratch license that sets conditions for distribution of modified versions such as BYOB. -- Jens Moenig, MioSoft Corporation; Brian Harvey, University of California, Berkeley
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: Logo, Scratch, visual programming.
1.
Tom Hoffman | April 29, 2010 at 11:11 am
I hope MioSoft is not distributing Scratch for commercial uses. Because that would be bad.
2.
Jens Mönig | May 6, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Tom,
I’m developing BYOB as a hobby in my spare time. MioSoft likes what I do and sponsors my trip to the Scratch@MIT and Constructionism 2010 Conferences. I’m very grateful for this and even more excited to finally meet Brian in person.
–Jens
3.
Tom Hoffman | May 7, 2010 at 9:51 am
Jens,
Don’t worry, you don’t have to justify yourself to me. I’m not the one who decided Scratch needed a non-commercial license. It is MIT you have to worry about.
4.
Alan Kay | April 29, 2010 at 12:01 pm
This sounds really exciting! Yay!
Cheers,
Alan
5.
Cameron Fadjo | April 29, 2010 at 12:36 pm
This is excellent news. As a researcher at Columbia using Scratch, the coordinator of the Scratch Day at TC 2010, and a fan of advancing technology tools for children, I am thrilled that Jens and Brian have brought this extension to the Scratch community!
_Cameron
6.
The Scratch Day « Malcolm Bellamy's Learning Blog | May 17, 2010 at 3:06 pm
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