Etoys-iii

Don’t miss the new Etoys book: http://wiki.squeakland.org/index.php/LearningWithEtoysI3.

Etoys is:

  • an educational tool for teaching children powerful ideas in compelling ways
  • a media-rich authoring environment and visual programming system
  • a free software program that works on almost all personal computers

All school children should have the opportunity to engage with computers in the most meaningful way. Learning to think and using the computer to discover and work with powerful ideas is the knowledge of true value. The community of Etoys users is working toward the dream of having all students become computer literate. This book only covers a small portion of those items. As you and your students learn some of the basic techniques, you will find more and more uses for them. The process of learning Etoys is just that, a process; the learning is on-going even though projects are begun and finished. Students will enjoy becoming experts and sharing their knowledge with others in the classroom.

Imagine this: A group of learners want to visualize what they Imagine so they go to Etoys to Invent their dreams and Inspire each other by building on their various Etoys projects. Today’s learners need this kind of experience to be prepared for the future.

For more information about Etoys visit www.squeakland.org

Bert posted a youtube video as a response to a newbie question:

For her third language she chose Squeak, since she knew that Scratch was written in it. I would like to have her write the “Hello Pythagoras” program using Morphic objects, in a visually appealing way. So far I have had some trouble finding a tutorial that covers relevant information. I am sure I can figure this out by poking around long enough but if anyone has a pointer to documentation that might help, or a similar example, that would be great and much appreciated

Here is Bert’s terrific answer!

Ken Causey has added a very useful video to the Squeak Smalltalk group at vimeo.com, in which he demonstrates the entire process of creating and submitting a bug/fix or enhancement for Squeak. Along the way he also explains how to track down simple bugs, how to manage changesets, and how to navigate your way around the Mantis bug tracking system.

The Squeak mailing lists have recently seen a surge of interest in getting videos published to help explain Squeak and Smalltalk to developers coming to the language and environment for the first time.

In response to this Randal L. Schwartz has set up a new Squeak Smalltalk group on vimeo.com to allow Squeakers to easily upload and share their videos.

Videos can be a great way to help people quickly pick up a lot of complex information, which makes this an opportunity for Squeakers old and new to help promote Squeak. If there are any topics that you think would suit a short video, why not try recording one and publishing it? If you’re the developer of a powerful Squeak developer tool, and you’re amazed that no-one seems to use all of its functionality, this would be a great way to expose all of those features in a compelling way.

If you’re a new developer struggling with Squeak, let us know what topics you’d like to see covered in video tutorials. If you’ve got any recommendations for recording and editing software for Windows, Mac or Linux, please leave a comment.