Scratch

Jens wrote:

jstout wrote:

Using Elements, if I create a message send of open to Workspace I get a workspace into which I can type. However, trying to evaluate/print what I've typed doesn't work.

If I do the same in a Workspace in Squeak it does.

Is this locked down in some way or is there something more to do with the Scratch 'layer'?

I'd like to be able to show BYOB going all the way up from simple turtle type activities as in Scratch, out to Smalltalk, then back into the first class facilities of BYOB (and I quite often like typing rather than dragging and dropping as with elements as I sometimes suffer from wrist strain if I do too much)

Wow, I'm impressed! What you're planning to show is in fact what I've been dreaming about when I started experimenting with Elements. You're right that the text evaluation features are currently locked down in the BYOB alpha images. However we're planning to either release a developer image or provide a "portkey" to the Squeak side in the BYOB3 release image due in August. I'm very interested in your ideas and plans about going to the Smalltalk side and back again and can't wait to learn more about them!

MUHUHAHAHA - almost locked out.

I can still get to them (without the developer image) through Elements.

Last edited by nXIII (2010-06-09 19:44:18)

Billybob-Mario wrote:

I accessed the squeak of BYOB by using the elements editor to make a turn fill screen off block.

Or use [[Preferences] enableProgrammerFacilities] and then inspect the frame and evaluate "self fillScreenOff"

markyparky56 wrote:

Jens wrote:

But we're still discussing this. Chances are we'll take that new stop block out again

I'll just go make a duplicate of the 2.99.015 image file...

Does that mean you think we should keep the new/removed block?  We thought (okay, I thought) people would find it confusing, and we've solved the problem that it's meant to solve by making the new event semantics optional.  Do you still want it even though the old way is again available?

Last edited by bharvey (2010-06-09 20:47:35)

Lucario621 wrote:

Awesome wiki article B H! ( )

No, you write it "bh"; you just pronounce it "B H"! 
(People not reading that other thread are going to be really confused...)  Thanks!

ScratchReallyROCKS wrote:

How do you sign up for an account on the Wiki?

You go to the wiki forum and ask nicely. 

(The smiley is because I'm teasing Lucario; you'll understand when you read the forum.)

bharvey wrote:

2.99.016 is out.  It makes the new overlapping-event rule optional, defaulting to Scratch behavior, with a check box in the Edit menu.  It also adds to the debugger the ability to execute the next command block without stepping, then start stepping again (to avoid stepping into an already-debugged custom block or to get past a loop without stepping each time through).

Excellent. The overlapping-event thing was obnoxious!

bharvey wrote:

ScratchReallyROCKS wrote:

How do you sign up for an account on the Wiki?

You go to the wiki forum and ask nicely. 

(The smiley is because I'm teasing Lucario; you'll understand when you read the forum.)

ScratchReallyROCKS wrote:

What does the 'Thread safe Scripts' option in the edit menu do?

That's how you enable the feature of ignoring events that come in while a script is running because of an earlier triggering of the same event, instead of the Scratch (and now again BYOB default) behavior of abandoning the old computation and restarting the script from the top.

The reason it's called "thread safe" is that that's why people care about this behavior: If a script modifies the state of the project (e.g., the value of a variable, but it could even be the position of a sprite) in such a way that in the middle of the script the state is temporarily inconsistent, and if Scratch suddenly starts the script from the top while it's in that inconsistent state, the result will be wrong.

(Imagine you are using an ATM to transfer money from your checking account to your savings account, and right after the program subtracts the money from checking, but before it adds the money to savings, that thread is killed.  You wouldn't be happy.)

Last edited by bharvey (2010-06-10 15:23:13)

> bharvey wrote:

> Is it just me, or is everyone getting "BBCode: off" all of a sudden?

Yeah - look in the announcement forums. BBCode doesn't work.

Jens wrote:

jstout wrote:

Using Elements, if I create a message send of open to Workspace I get a workspace into which I can type. However, trying to evaluate/print what I've typed doesn't work.
...)

Wow, I'm impressed! What you're planning to show is in fact what I've been dreaming about when I started experimenting with Elements. You're right that the text evaluation features are currently locked down in the BYOB alpha images. However we're planning to either release a developer image or provide a "portkey" to the Squeak side in the BYOB3 release image due in August. I'm very interested in your ideas and plans about going to the Smalltalk side and back again and can't wait to learn more about them!

Thanks for your positive comments. I teach Computing A-level (16-18 year olds) in the UK, and I'd like to use BYOB/Squeak for the theory side of the course. We're probably stuck with VB for the practical (in the short term), but we are trying to encourage students to go for really exciting practical projects, not just the standard stock control database applications, and BYOB's been the most exciting development I've come across since I read the Byte Smalltalk issue, way back when.

I've already used BYOB/Elements to illustrate the section of the specification on programming paradigms, functional, object oriented, and event driven, and on another course we use BYOB for the Computer Animation, Event Driven Programming, and Developing Computer Games units. We use Scratch/BYOB for our Taster Days, where we have 30 minutes to introduce 14 year olds to Computing.

I love BYOB! #3 looks awesome right now, I can't wait for it! 

bharvey wrote:

multiple simultaneous Block Editor windows!

Need I say more?

How did you add the link???