[MWForum]New to List and MicroWorlds

[Daniel Ajoy]

On 11 Jan 2005 at 13:46, Nadia Bluhm wrote:

> Hi Daniel,
> 
> Thanks for your reply.  I will definately check out the resources you
> suggested.  Just wondering whether you the use the PRO or EX versions of
> MicroWorlds.   As far as learning from examples that use the PRO version, do
> you feel this is useful even though we are using the EX version?  

Oh yes. The turtle geometry examples (the most numerous in the Logo 
community) will probably work without change.

> Because of
> the backpack in EX, does this mean that doing things become easier that
> would have taken more code in PRO?  

This is almost the procedural vs. "object oriented" dilema.

With EX each turtle now has in its backpack its own procedures,
figures, and properties. Whereas in PRO the turtle had only a few
private properties (color, current shape, heading, pensize, size).

In Pro, procedures were always external to turtles. Turtles use
shapes that are available to every turtle (in the shapes tab)

> Does it make the learning environment
> better for kids?

I would say EX is a better environment for developing games and 
animations with character interactions, because each turtle
can have it's own rules (Rules tab in the backpack). EX checks
those rules automatically.

In Pro you have to write code like:

when touching? "turtle1 "turtle2 [react.in.a.special.way]


If you believe that this kind of engaging activities (creating
games and animations) is good for learning, then YES.

The Case for Classic Logo
http://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/pubs/logoupdate/v4n1.html#classic

A Word for Modern Logo
http://gsep.pepperdine.edu/~gstager/classiclogo.html

Daniel
OpenWorld Learning