Copyright Don Sleeth, 1998

Page 1 - Intro

Introduction

Did you ever wonder how one of your favorite programs works? Did you ever get mad at a program because it kept asking you for the same thing, even though you already told it? Did you ever think, "I wish I could write my own computer game"? Well, this Web Site is a good place to start looking for answers to these questions and more.

What will I learn?

The lessons will teach you the basics of computer programming. You will learn to write programs that do calculations, programs that store names and addresses and programs that are fun! Teaching you how to do these things can be done in two different ways. The easy way is to give you a program and show you how it works. This is how most computer manuals are written. The hard way is to show you how and why, so that you can write programs about ideas that are totally your own.

I will teach you how and why to write programs that will work properly and can be improved on as time goes by. This will give you a solid foundation in programming techniques so you can develop programs in any language.

What computer language?

There are many different programming languages, just like there are many languages spoken in the world. Like human languages all have verbs, nouns and adjectives, programming languages too, have similarities like variables, and subroutines. It is these building blocks that are basic to computer programming in any language that it is important to learn. Unlike human languages, with computer languages, once you learn one, it is much easier to learn the next and the next.

Even though it is not the computer language that is important, I still had to choose one to use. Most commercial programs, such as word processors or spreadsheets, are written in C++, which is a wonderful Object Oriented Language. It makes a great second or third language but it is complex and gets in the way too much when you are just trying to learn basic programming concepts. I wanted a language that would allow you the student, to build programs that were fun and complete, in a fairly short time. There is a language that is used specifically to teach computer programming concepts to children and that language is Logo. So I chose Logo.

Just like human languages can be spoken with different accents, so it is with computer languages. The 'version' of Logo that I use in these lessons is from a commercial product named "MicroWorlds" from Logo Computer Systems Inc.

Advantages of MicroWorlds

MicroWorlds is produced by Logo Computer Systems Inc. The product is available in both single user and site license packages on Mac, Windows 95 and DOS platforms. It is already installed in many school labs throughout the world. I have a complete on-line order form or you can call 1-888-736-1101 (1 613 233 1101). The MicroWorlds programming environment is complete with pre-drawn shapes, a drawing center, a sound recording center and, of course, the Logo language.

All of us, but especially children, thrive on instant feedback. MicroWorlds excells in this aspect. Children learn faster and easier when they can immediately see the results of calling procedures or changing variables. This is one of the features that makes MicroWorlds a wonderful product to learn programming with. It uses turtles to provide movement as well as sliders, buttons and text boxes and sound recording and playback.

The MicroWorlds documentation includes sample projects and will help the teacher and student get the most out of the multimedia aspect of the product.

These lessons go beyond the product documentaion in the direction of actual programming techniques. Before starting these lessons, you should be familiar with MicroWorlds, the turtles, the shape center and the drawing center.

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