Abstract-Visual blocks languages offer many advantages to the beginner or "casual" programmer. They eliminate syntax issues, allow the user to work with logical program chunks, provide affordances such as drop-down menus, and leverage the fact that recognition is easier than recall. However, as users gain experience and start creating larger programs, they encounter two inconvenient properties of pure blocks languages: blocks take up more screen real-estate than textual languages and dragging blocks from a palette is slower than typing.This paper describes three experiments in blurring the line between blocks and textual code in GP, a new blocks language for casual programmers currently under development.
Abstract-In designing BYOB and Snap!, we wanted to extend the Scratch idea of visual metaphors for control structures to include anonymous procedures and higher order functions. We describe the iterations in the design leading to the current "grey ring" notation.
Snap! is a cloud-native graphical programming environment and an online community. It is the programming language made for UC Berkeley’s popular introductory CS course named “The Beauty and Joy of Computing”. Snap! is taught in colleges and high schools across the U.S. from Palo Alto to Philadelphia. It has been translated to more than 40 languages and is used around the world—from Göttingen to Beijing—for teaching and research. Snap! has been designed for inclusion. Its low floor welcomes beginners and its multi-media capabilities invite creative thinkers of all ages. At the same time, Snap! offers sophisticated abstractions that make it suitable for an intellectually rigorous introduction to computer science.
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