[HN Gopher] Show HN: PickCode - An educational coding environmen...
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Show HN: PickCode - An educational coding environment for students
after Scratch
PickCode is designed for use on desktop and tablet, and supports
creating chatbots, visual designs, and 2D games. There is plenty of
functionality missing - you can't add media to games for instance,
but the current version shows off the foundation of what I'm aiming
at. I taught myself to code using MIT's App Inventor, so I have an
enormous respect for block based languages like App Inventor,
Scratch, Snap!, MakeCode, etc. PickCode is my attempt at adding
options for students who want to learn more about programming
without making the jump to text, or as an alternative to block
coding for beginners coming to programming at an older age. The
visual language is meant to lower the barrier to entry to coding
but the far more important aspect for me is giving students the
ability to make things they're proud of as quickly as possible. A
JS/Python API for controlling the chatbot and game engine are in
the works. As of now, there are sample programs to play with and
an editor which saves your programs to local storage. Full user
accounts, tutorials and administrator accounts for teachers to
organize assignments are on their way soon. If you're interested in
using PickCode in a classroom or want to discuss feedback, send me
an email at charlie@pickcode.io
Author : csmeyer
Score : 45 points
Date : 2022-07-25 20:16 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.pickcode.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.pickcode.io)
| lucasmullens wrote:
| This editor is really impressive. I work at Google on
| Grasshopper's block-based mobile coding editor, and we've been
| exploring ways to help users transition from block-based coding
| to "real" coding. This looks like it does a great job finding a
| middle ground.
|
| Things like missing parentheses and apostrophes can be really
| off-putting/confusing to new programmers, and this avoids that
| while still letting the user type something that's effectively
| real code.
| emptysongglass wrote:
| Question: are there any plans to offer anything other than
| JavaScript? Grasshopper has been on the market for a number of
| years now and still only offers the one.
| lucasmullens wrote:
| Not at the moment, but that's definitely our number one
| feature request. It takes a lot of work to add new languages,
| since all our curriculum would need to be rewritten.
|
| Often a lot of new developers mistakenly believe the best
| thing for them to do is learn as many languages as possible,
| when learning the fundamentals of a single language is
| usually more useful.
| majeedkazemi wrote:
| This editor is amazing!! You should take a look at CodeStruct
| as well: https://code-struct.vercel.app/
|
| We've had a similar goal and were trying to create a tool to
| help students transition from Scratch to Python using an
| intermediary structured editor that provides scaffolds such as
| handling syntax.
|
| Here's a research paper that we published on CodeStruct:
| https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3501712.3529733
| okasaki wrote:
| The interface reminds me of the game 7 Billion Humans:
|
| https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/792100/ss_c8f1...
|
| Really fun puzzle-programming game by the way.
|
| https://store.steampowered.com/app/792100/7_Billion_Humans/
| [deleted]
| bitwize wrote:
| Not to be confused with PICK, the old-school minicomputer
| OS/database/programming environment:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_operating_system
| [deleted]
| Bostonian wrote:
| As a Fortranner I approve of any language that uses "call" to
| invoke subroutines as PickCode does :).
| csmeyer wrote:
| Standing on the shoulders of giants!
| turtlebits wrote:
| Maybe I'm not the target user, but the UI is an exercise in
| frustration.
|
| - Why have a cursor if you can't type? - No errors for "call
| paint -> color" - The icons aren't useful. Why not have hover
| "help" messages on the UI, instead of a separate Keypad help
| (which you have to hover anyways)
| [deleted]
| csmeyer wrote:
| Things are a work in progress so I appreciate the feedback! I
| do limit the use of hovering in the UI because Pickcode is also
| meant for use on tablets, but adding it as a nice to have for
| desktop users makes sense
| patja wrote:
| I was hoping this would have some relationship to Dick Pick's
| Pick operating system.
| tyleo wrote:
| For any folks interested in working on introductory visual
| programming languages full-time, I'm the architect on Circuits at
| Rec Room and we are hiring all levels of engineering :)
|
| Circuits are basically executable flow-charts built in 3D space
| on iOS, Android, Consoles, PC, or VR. We have millions of
| Circuits users already and we are growing rapidly. Please send
| mail to tyler@recroom.com if you are interested in roles.
|
| Here is a spotlight of some Circuits creators for anyone
| interested in seeing it in action:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLn2YHLh6U
|
| Here is a link to some Figma assets for anyone just interested in
| knowing what it looks like:
| https://www.figma.com/community/file/1070750698042818512
|
| P.S. We have plenty of other roles open if client game dev isn't
| your thing but you are looking for a new gig:
| https://recroom.com/careers#openings
| [deleted]
| frozencell wrote:
| I wonder if this kind of editor could be used for a GPT3
| framework with suggestions, dropdown, etc.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| armchairhacker wrote:
| i recommend an option to convert to / from text.
|
| Maybe it's true that younger children are better at understanding
| blocks than text, but i believe young children are able to learn
| how to program in text. Plus, your environment makes the
| relationship between text and blocks very easy to grasp. Once
| children do learn how to type their code instead of using blocks
| they'll be able to code faster, and it will prepare them for real
| languages like Python.
| csmeyer wrote:
| On the roadmap!
| cxr wrote:
| Are you aware of Microsoft's MakeCode? Similar name with a
| ton of resources put into it (a YouTube channel with full
| tutorials
| <https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMakeCode/videos>, ability
| to use block-based or text-based editors, a Microsoft-sized
| budget, etc.)
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(page generated 2022-07-25 23:00 UTC)