Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft MakeCode

makecode.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 94 posts

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#21

Post by gwilkes »

gwilkes wrote: post #13
mynameisvlad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, huh, I didn't even realize. I do wonder how far the two codebases have diverged (especially with the recent "Better Together" update on Bedrock). Kind of a shame MakeCode doesn't work on Java Edition, since that's where I invested my time.

I know what you mean but Bedrock just has much better performance. The ideal for me would be Bedrock on all the same platforms as Java (including Linux) with a supported way to make mods that didn't break on every version update

Good news for anyone who is interested, it seems Microsoft is working on bringing the Bedrock (C++) version to Linux and Mac OS: https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/769uli/confirmed...

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#22

Post by anonytrary »

leggomylibro wrote: post #14

Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. Is it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it. I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad. Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/e…

> I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad

Visual coding is huge among people who aren't technical. I first got into "programming" when I was 9, through lego robots, they had a visual control flow thingy, basically visual coding. I think that must have helped me understand programming and its implications much faster when I got into college.

Visual programming is not ergonomic enough to justify never writing code again. It will remain a paramount educational tool, and a great tool for designers and game developers. I believe people do use visual programming for Unreal projects (Unity, maybe?), textures, effects, etc.

I don't think it is aesthetic enough right now to get the masses into it. Visual programming will eventually be important in getting people to do more complex things on the web (think IFTTT).

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#23

Post by Anm »

matthewwiese wrote: post #20
abchatra wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a toggle between blocks and javascript in MakeCode. You can write code in blocks and switch to javascript or vice versa. This dual modality hopefully helps students to make the jump from blocks to javascript on a long term. Blocks editor is based on the fork of google blockly( https://developers.google.com/blockly/ ).

Scratch 3.0 uses Google's Blockly in their new software, for those curious about the similarities. The tech is widely used in many different applications, as evidenced by Microsoft's use of it in MakeCode. Though I'm not a part of the team and so can't provide much more information beyond an interested outsider, unfortunately. :)

Blocky team member, here. Microsoft and MIT/Scratch have been amazing partners and contributors. We're really excited about Scratch 3.0 and the efforts on Scratch Blocks.

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#24

Post by seanmcdirmid »

anonytrary wrote: post #22
leggomylibro wrote: post #14

Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. Is it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it. I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad. Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/e…

> I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad Visual coding is huge among people who aren't technical. I first got into "programming" when I was 9, through lego robots, they had a visual control flow thingy, basically visual coding. I think that must have helped me understand programming and its implications much faster when I got into college. Visual programming is not ergonomic enough to justify never wr…

Just a correction: you are writing code with visual programming, its just visual code instead of textual code. You haven't gotten rid of code.

VPLs are great for people who aren't programmers and don't wan to be programmers; e.g. Facebook designers using Quartz Composer or Orgami, game designers using Unreal blueprints, Blender, and so on.

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#25

Post by pixie_ »

leggomylibro wrote: post #14

Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. Is it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it. I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad. Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/e…

Visual programming is also very popular among engineers. All kinds of test, automation, are monitoring systems are built using LabVIEW.

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#26

Post by darzu »

tonydiv wrote: post #18

I'm really excited about this project! It seems like it's Google Blockly with a lot more bells and whistles. I'll have to dig into the code more to tell. At BlockSchool, my online coding school for kids 6-13, we've had a pretty good experience using Blockly. We've managed to hook it up to our own Minecraft-esque world. If you're interested in what we're doing with kids you can learn more here: https://block.school

It uses Google Blockly internally: https://github.com/Microsoft/pxt/tree/master/pxtblocks

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#27

Post by fillskills »

Off topic but this is one of the best UIs I have seen in a while. It clearly illustrates what it is about with examples, tutorials etc. I didnt have to go to any sub pages to understand what it actually does

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#28

Post by ssalazar »

leggomylibro wrote: post #14

Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. Is it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it. I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad. Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/e…

Max/MSP and TouchDesigner are used heavily in creative industry, especially related to large-scale "experiences" that marketing agencies throw in urban spaces. Max/MSP is interesting because it was originally created under the auspices of a publicly funded French organization (IRCAM) before being commercialized.

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#29

Post by agar »

leggomylibro wrote: post #14

Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. Is it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it. I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad. Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/e…

Only a single data point, but Scratch has definitely sparked an interest in programming in my 12 year-old daughter.

Though still early days, she has taken her first steps into learning Python. The concepts of loops, variables, counters, and even objects has definitely carried over from Scratch.

She still spends most of her time in Scratch though, sometimes creating her own games or drawing programs, sometimes playing others' creations, sometimes looking behind the curtain to see how her favorite games work and doing light remixing.

Will this turn her into a career programmer? Probably not, but she has told me that she now really appreciates what makes programs work, and every time she sees a new app she can't help but think about how it might be structured.

Overall, I think that's a pretty good argument for early exposure to visual editors.

Re: Microsoft MakeCode

#30

Post by [deleted] »

leggomylibro wrote: post #14

Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. Is it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it. I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad. Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/e…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN