LOGO-L> Re: LOGO-L> Logo/ToonTalk Textual/Visual

["Ken Kahn" <KenKahn@ToonTalk.com>]

Tom & Adele Woods wrote

>To me, textual programming enables students to express their thoughts in
>ways similar to spoken language. Reading, writing, speaking and listening
>are necessarily serial. This is not a bad thing.
>
>Although I'm not familiar with ToonTalk, I can imagine visual programming
as
>being akin to other creative visual processes. In the visual arts the
>presence of a language is undeniable. With it, artists can express rich
>parallel thoughts through images. Neither is this a bad thing.
>
>I worry about any implication that one form is inferior to another which is
>the message I got when it was said that Logo is "old technology." Both
forms
>of expression are important. One is not inferior to another -- just
different.
>


I agree, text is good. But as I wrote in another branch of this thread
regarding whether some programming paradigms are superior to others -- there
is a need to prioritize here. If a teacher is going to teach just one
language in a course should it be a visual or textual one? If a parent is
buying a programming language for their children, which language is the best
first language? In an ideal world I would love to see children learn both
kinds of languages. (And also both sequential procedural languages and
concurrent object-oriented ones.)

Maybe I should rephrase the question of Logo's obsolescence as "Is Logo
still the best as the first programming language children learn?" I don't
believe so. I think visual/animated languages are more appealing to children
and easier to learn. I think concurrent object-oriented languages provide a
more natural and more powerful thinking tool than sequential procedural
languages.

If one agrees with me, then the next question is whether Logo is the best
second language to learn. I feel less strongly about this issue but wonder
whether a child who has mastered ToonTalk might not be ready for Java or
Scheme instead.

Best,

-ken kahn







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