Re:Is Google App Inventor A Gateway Drug Or A Doomsday Devic...
by jamesbritt on Monday July 12, 2010 @12:56PM
(#1508522)
'They both utilize the concept of visually displaying code segments as "building blocks" which fit together like puzzle pieces to give a visual representation of whether or not code will work.'
Sounds like Lego Mindstorms as well.
Re:Is Google App Inventor A Gateway Drug Or A Doomsday Devic...
by giantfuzzypanda on Monday July 12, 2010 @09:35PM
(#1510082)
Things like Lego Mindstorms help kids move on to the next step - maybe Visual Basic or Python. No one starts off with programming, it's usually WYSIWYG or similar paradigms.
Re:Is Google App Inventor A Gateway Drug Or A Doomsday Devic...
by jamesbritt on Tuesday July 13, 2010 @02:27AM
(#1510566)
"No one starts off with programming, it's usually WYSIWYG or similar paradigms."
Or Excel.
People do the weirdest things with it, folks who would be perplexed if you suggested that their improvised use of a spreadsheet made them a hacker.
"I saw this on twitter this morning and noticed a glaring similarity in the GUI design and that of MIT's SCRATCH programming language geared at teaching children how to program. They both utilize the concept of visually displaying code segments as "building blocks" which fit together like puzzle pieces to give a visual representation of whether or not code will work.
I commend the approach to get more parties interested in programming and mobile web application development. Perhaps this opens up a whole new world of potential for getting mobile applications development into the classroom at a very young age. On the downside, we might end up with an influx of even crappier Android applications in the market. I already have a hard enough time filtering through the crapplications as it is.
Here's the link to SCRATCH for those unaware:"
http://scratch.mit.edu/