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Google Blockly - a visual programming language

code.google.com

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Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#41

Post by DeepDuh »

dangrover wrote: post #2

The UI for this reminds me a lot of Scratch from MIT.

Ah scratch. Some years ago I wanted to show what cool stuff you can do with computers to a 10y old boy. Found scratch and actually got hooked myself for a bit ^^. Ended up with this (slightly embarassing thing): http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/DeepDuh/941811. After programming a bit, the limitations become apparent big time. Google's idea to implement this as a Javascript parser is probably a good idea, this way some kids may make the bridge to the actual program. Also, it's probably way way better performing. If you like visual programming, have a look at subtext. IMO this is the best idea for a visual programmig style, I hope it gets traction http://www.subtextual.org/.

Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#43

Post by agf »

https://imgur.com/VBsht

  while (true) do
    if not (wall to the left) then
      (turn left)
    while (wall ahead) do
      (turn right)
    (move forward)
This uses the general maze-solving logic of following the outer wall in one direction until you find the exit. It never turns then turns back or runs into a wall.

Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#44

Post by wccrawford »

DeepDuh wrote: post #41
dangrover wrote: post #2

The UI for this reminds me a lot of Scratch from MIT.

Ah scratch. Some years ago I wanted to show what cool stuff you can do with computers to a 10y old boy. Found scratch and actually got hooked myself for a bit ^^. Ended up with this (slightly embarassing thing): http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/DeepDuh/941811 . After programming a bit, the limitations become apparent big time. Google's idea to implement this as a Javascript parser is probably a good idea, this way som…

My niece was telling me about Scratch and how she knew what was wrong with other people's code and how she'd fix it.

I am so freaking proud.

Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#45

Post by NeilFraser »

ianbishop wrote: post #32

I made a prime sieve: http://i.imgur.com/Elk5A.png It was pretty fun. JS generated isn't so bad.. var n; var A; var i; var x; var j; n = 100; A = []; for (i = 0; i

You win the prize for most impressive Blockly program yet. Looking forward to what you will write once we get procedures landed. -- The Blockly Team.

Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#46

Post by metamatt »

The puzzle-piece representation of structure is neat, but at a 2-minute glance it seems not to scale to real complexity.

One of the big ideas in programming is abstraction/modularity/reuse, and I don't see how that fits in here.

(I found the "procedure" block, but I don't see anything that fits inside it other than "break out of loop", which doesn't make any sense. And I don't see how to call the procedure.)

So I find myself looking at the samples everyone's demonstrating here and finding they're harder to read than real well-organized code.

Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#47

Post by WiseWeasel »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #37
grakic wrote: post #4

Can this program be made any shorter? http://www.dodaj.rs/f/1K/vW/2gLz63rl/blockly.png

Here's one that runs the fastest through this particular maze (I noticed there's always a wall on the right side when we need to make a left turn): http://i.imgur.com/gNaRA.png

And a much shorter and dumber version that does the same thing:

http://i.imgur.com/TgS8I.png

Re: Google Blockly - a visual programming language

#48

Post by rezaprima »

DeepDuh wrote: post #41
dangrover wrote: post #2

The UI for this reminds me a lot of Scratch from MIT.

Ah scratch. Some years ago I wanted to show what cool stuff you can do with computers to a 10y old boy. Found scratch and actually got hooked myself for a bit ^^. Ended up with this (slightly embarassing thing): http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/DeepDuh/941811 . After programming a bit, the limitations become apparent big time. Google's idea to implement this as a Javascript parser is probably a good idea, this way som…

have you tried BYOB [1]? It's "an advanced offshoot of Scratch"

[1] http://byob.berkeley.edu/

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