A programming language for children
summary
A first programming language for young children called Isla compiles via a lexer, a PEG-based parser and an interpreter that runs as JavaScript inside a storytelling environment Storytime for building old‑school text adventures. The implementation uses peg.js to generate the parser and multimeter.js style multimethods to dispatch AST node interpreters. User tests with non-programmers and a 67‑year‑old show core write/variable features work and a surprising design change: every literal now requires apostrophes.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Start
- 1:50Can children program?
- 2:18Should children program?
- 3:14Programming is typing
- 5:20Use baby talk
- 11:50Multimethods
- 13:39interpret()
- 15:07The execution context
- 20:01Metaphors
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