[Edu-sig] Turtle Draw program

[Dethe Elza]

Hi folks,

This is just an announcement for my own bit of "throwaway" code: a primitive
turtle-drawing program called Kutia.  I wanted a logo-like environment for
introducing my daughter Mina (age 4) to programming.  The idea was that you
could move the turtle with buttons, or click the field to have it chase the
mouse-clicks, or enter text commands.  Each control method should be
interlinked, so when the turtle chases the mouse, the commands it uses are
entered in the command window, which would be editable.

I have not implemented the command window yet, and the buttons don't seem
very useful when you have direct manipulation of the turtle.  In fact I
think I can get rid of the penup/pendown buttons once I allow the turtle to
be dragged directly.  Anyway, it's pretty fun and ready for some comments.

http://delza.alliances.org/archive/

Two classes in one file, notes and demo data at the top.  It's more
complicated right now than it needs to be, I'm still cleaning up the code
which is there while I add additional functionality.  There are a lot of
methods which don't get used: I tried animating the rotation of the turtle
but it was too slow, there is support for buttons to move forward, turn
right/left, but I've removed the buttons based on usability testing.

This is different from "adaptable interfaces" because the interface is not
designed to change: direct manipulation is always available, as is the
command window (when implemented).  This allows the learner to switch back
and forth at will between the two methods for ease of exploration.

Also, when I say Logo-like, I'm using the term pretty loosly.  I've never
really used Logo, just read about it.  Caveat emptor or something.  And
despite my .sig, this isn't a BT product, just a personal project.

--Dethe

Dethe Elza
Chief Mad Scientist
Burning Tiger Technologies