And this has what exactly to do with PHP? On 6/12/05, ducasse <ducasse@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi > > If you are a parent, an educator or a programmer having kids this is > for you! After 4 years of work, my new book "Squeak: Learn > programming with Robots" will be out soon. > > http://smallwiki.unibe.ch/botsinc/ > > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1590594916/ > qid=1117218524/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-5642974-5143261?v=glance&s=books > With Bots Inc you will learn how to program robots in an interactive > environment. Bots Inc proposes three teaching approaches: direct > command of robots, scripting robots and programming robots. The book > contains 24 chapters going step by step over topics with a lot of > examples. Bots Inc is fun but it is not a toy, it teaches you 100% > real programming. Bots Inc is built on top of > the rich open-source multimedia Squeak environment that you can also > discover. > > My goal is to explain key elementary programming concepts (such as > loops, abstraction, composition, and conditionals) to novices of all > ages. I believe that learning by experimenting and solving problems > with fun is central to human knowledge acquisition. Therefore, I have > presented programming concepts through simple but not trivial > problems such as drawing golden rectangles or simulating animal > behavior. The ideal reader I have in mind is an individual who wants > to have fun programming. This person may be a teenager or an adult, a > schoolteacher, or somebody teaching programming to children in some > other organization. Such an individual does not have to be fluent in > programming in any language. As a father of two young boys I also > wrote this book for all the parents that want to have fun programming > with their kids in a powerful interactive environment. Programming in > Squeak is an interactive, fun but deep experience. The present book > teaches elementary programming aspects, the following book will > introduce a new fun > environment and teach object-oriented programming. > > Testimonies > > "I am using the version of the book on your web site to teach my > oldest daughter Becca some programming. She absolutely loves it. We > are doing the Bot graphics right. My other kids are showing interest > as well. My Fall semester schedule leaves me with almost no time free > but in the Spring I hope to bring Squeak and your book to our > elementary school's "gifted" program." C. David Shaffer > > "I'm using the Bot Lab environment for three years and found it > really valuable in teaching computer science concepts for a young > audience (and even less young !). The bots commanded through balloon > (as in comic strips) is a very nice introduction for young children, > and when this aspect is well understood, you can use the Bot > Workspace to teach the notion of script, a first step in programming > languages. The Micro Browser allows children to add new behavior for > their bots, and have fun with their creation. This three-layers tool > - Balloon, Micro Workspace, Micro Browser - offers to the teacher a > fun way to introduce gently the basis of object-oriented programming > concepts. With Bots Inc, learning is playing ! ;-)" Samir Saidani - > University of Caen - France > > "I recently started a course with 7th-graders (age about 13 years) > with Stephane's book --- they love it. They all know about syntactic > issues from maths --- in a way they know that an expression in a > formal language must be well formed. So they easily grasp the fact > such as "there must be a colon after the message-name if an argument > follows". Of cause they don't really read the error-messages, they > just see "there must be some error" and they remember the simple > rules. Don't underestimate Smalltalk --- it's easy understandable > because it has a simple and straight-forward design." Klaus Fuller - > Germany > > Have fun... > > Stef > > > http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~ducasse/ > "if you knew today was your last day on earth, what would you > do different? ... especially if, by doing something different, > today might not be your last day on earth" Calvin&Hobbes > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
