I have completed a first pass over the draft Etoys Reference Manual,
adding as much information as I could easily find about Object types,
program tiles, tools, menus, and so on, and adding outlines for a
chapter on Etoys programming and a Glossary. More information is
needed.
I am in a strange position, learning Etoys by writing substantial
portions of its Reference Manual, something that I do not think would
be possible for any other programming system. I found the early
tutorials a delight, up to the point where everything else was
completely opaque to me. After learning a bit of Squeak, and getting
just a few more hints, I found Etoys starting to make real sense, and
now I can use a substantial subset of it. When I get through the parts
of this manual that I can do, I will turn to creating Etoys projects
to illustrate the issues I found missing, and to take up various
education topics. Some will be in the manner of my Turtle Art
tutorials and Tony Forster's, but of course Etoys supports doing far
more than that.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/TurtleArt/Tutorials
Can anybody help with these Etoys objects that either need explanation
or are simply not present in the versions I have access to? In
particular, communication between Etoys sessions and users remains
entirely opaque to me.
Communications
Attachment Adjuster
Badge
Fridge
NebraskaServer
Objects not found in Object Catalog--Can we remove these?
Calendar
Dr. Geo http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=676.0
Flap
Graph
Graphing
H Number Line
Key press
Speech Bubbles
Other
Arrow Editor
Image How to substitute another image?
Particles What is Kedama? http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1092381
Kedama: A GUI-Based Interactive Massively Parallel Particle Programming System
http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/VLHCC.2005.49
Purchase article: $19
http://community.ofset.org/index.php/Etoys_and_Kedama
I plan to combine redundant accounts of particular features, move a
few topics to what seems to me a more logical order, and add some more
topics. I especially plan to explain how Etoys development tools work,
and how one accesses Squeak development tools from Etoys. A tutorial
on either Etoys or Squeak development is, of course, inappropriate for
this manual, but I do want to demonstrate how one can look inside
Etoys object definitions using Squeak. This question is somewhat
confusing, because things may have different names and different
structures in their Etoys and Squeak manifestations. Has anybody ever
made a tool for exposing the structure of the Squeak definitions of
Etoys objects?
Lots more questions to come.
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
Karl Ramberg uploaded a new version of Etoys to project Etoys:
http://source.squeak.org/etoys/Etoys-kfr.143.mcz
==================== Summary ====================
Name: Etoys-kfr.143
Author: kfr
Time: 27 September 2012, 10:36:38 pm
UUID: 31935eab-77c7-3940-a48f-8c23a49cc98d
Ancestors: Etoys-bf.142
http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-1118
partName and documentation in KeyPressMorph>>descriptionForPartsBin need to be translatable.
=============== Diff against Etoys-bf.142 ===============
Item was changed:
----- Method: KeyPressMorph class>>descriptionForPartsBin (in category 'parts bin') -----
descriptionForPartsBin
^ self
+ partName: 'Key press' translatedNoop
+ categories: {'Just for Fun' translatedNoop}
+ documentation: 'An object that tells you when a specific key has been pressed.' translatedNoop
- partName: 'Key press'
- categories: #('Just for Fun' )
- documentation: 'An object that tells you when a specific key has been pressed.'
!
On Tue, September 25, 2012 12:56 pm, karl ramberg wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 8:49 AM, Edward Mokurai Cherlin
> <mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>> forward direction: What effect or use does it have?
>
> Each player has a direction arrow that can be changed by clicking on
> it while holding shift.
> If it's not visible you can check the box 'direction arrow' in halo menu.
> When you tell a player to move forward it will move in the direction
> of the arrow.
This turns out not to answer the question I asked. You are describing
the heading, not the forward direction.
Objects move in the direction of their heading, which is the direction
of the Halo arrow, but not necessarily the same as the forward
direction. Rotating the Morph with the Rotate handle in the Halo
changes the heading but not the forward direction. Turning on the
direction arrow, and then grabbing it with a shift-click and turning
it, changes both the forward direction and the heading. These two
values can be edited in the viewer as well. Editing the heading leaves
the forward direction unchanged. Editing the forward direction also
changes the heading. The command Object forward by 5 moves the Morph
in the heading direction. I see nothing in Etoys that makes use of the
forward direction.
In Squeak, we see for the Morph class:
heading
"Return the receiver's heading (in eToy terms)"
owner ifNil: [^ self forwardDirection].
^ self forwardDirection + owner degreesOfFlex
forwardDirection: newDirection
"Set the receiver's forward direction (in eToy terms)"
self setProperty: #forwardDirection toValue: newDirection.
degreesOfFlex
"Return any rotation due to flexing"
"NOTE: because renderedMorph, which is used by the halo to set
heading, goes down through dropShadows as well as transformations, we
need this method (and its other implems) to come back up through such
a chain."
^ 0.0
and so on.
Also in Squeak, I see 19 senders of forwardDirection in 12 classes,
which I do not feel ready to explore until after I learn rather more
Squeak and Smalltalk. I can feel it coming on. ^_^
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
On Tue, September 25, 2012 11:08 pm, Steve Thomas wrote:
> Edward,
>
> I think you may have uncovered a bug (although it may exist in the model
> inside my head).
Misfeature, I think. It doesn't break anything, but is only a design error.
> I can take a polygon from the Supplies flap and it starts out with its
> heading and forward direction as 0.
> Then if I first change the forward direction to 180 and then change the
> heading to 0 (which also changes the forward direction to 0) I wind up
> with
> the polygon costume turned 180, but heading and forward direction both 0.
Exactly so. I'll add that point to the manual. Also the term costume.
I like that.
> This does not make sense to me.
>
> Also the Balloon help for "heading" states: "Which direction the object is
> facing. 0 is straight up"
Definitely uninformative. The important fact is that heading is the
direction in which the object will move.
> The Balloon help for "forward direction" states: "The angle of my forward
> direction without rotating myself"
Definitely meaningless.
> Okay, so I may be starting to get this but it seems harder than it should
> be.
>
> To my simple mind, there are two things:
>
> 1. the rotation of the costume, where its "original" value is 0 (ie:
> straight up) (Seems like this should map to "heading" but my case above
> provides a counter example.
> 2. the "forward direction" which is the direction it will move in.
You have it backwards, which does not surprise me in the confused
state of the help and the documentation.
> Thus changing forward direction should not IMNSHBOWO change heading.
> Of course at this point we probably do not want to change existing
> behavior
> which could break old projects. So we may have to document as is.
I'll do my best.
> Stephen
> IMNSHBOWO - In My Not So Humble But Often Wrong Opinion
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 7:08 PM, Edward Mokurai Cherlin <
> mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, September 25, 2012 12:56 pm, karl ramberg wrote:
>> > On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 8:49 AM, Edward Mokurai Cherlin
>> > <mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>>
>> >> forward direction: What effect or use does it have?
>> >
>> > Each player has a direction arrow that can be changed by clicking on
>> > it while holding shift.
>> > If it's not visible you can check the box 'direction arrow' in halo
>> menu.
>> > When you tell a player to move forward it will move in the direction
>> > of the arrow.
>>
>> This turns out not to answer the question I asked. You are describing
>> the heading, not the forward direction.
>>
>> Objects move in the direction of their heading, which is the direction
>> of the Halo arrow, but not necessarily the same as the forward
>> direction. Rotating the Morph with the Rotate handle in the Halo
>> changes the heading but not the forward direction. Turning on the
>> direction arrow, and then grabbing it with a shift-click and turning
>> it, changes both the forward direction and the heading. These two
>> values can be edited in the viewer as well. Editing the heading leaves
>> the forward direction unchanged. Editing the forward direction also
>> changes the heading. The command Object forward by 5 moves the Morph
>> in the heading direction. I see nothing in Etoys that makes use of the
>> forward direction.
>>
>> In Squeak, we see for the Morph class:
>>
>> heading
>> "Return the receiver's heading (in eToy terms)"
>> owner ifNil: [^ self forwardDirection].
>> ^ self forwardDirection + owner degreesOfFlex
>>
>> forwardDirection: newDirection
>> "Set the receiver's forward direction (in eToy terms)"
>> self setProperty: #forwardDirection toValue: newDirection.
>>
>> degreesOfFlex
>> "Return any rotation due to flexing"
>> "NOTE: because renderedMorph, which is used by the halo to set
>> heading, goes down through dropShadows as well as transformations, we
>> need this method (and its other implems) to come back up through such
>> a chain."
>> ^ 0.0
>>
>> and so on.
>>
>> Also in Squeak, I see 19 senders of forwardDirection in 12 classes,
>> which I do not feel ready to explore until after I learn rather more
>> Squeak and Smalltalk. I can feel it coming on. ^_^
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
I gathered the terminology of Etoys, Squeak, and Smalltalk that appear
in the Etoys Reference Manual into a Glossary chapter, and defined all
of it that I could based on exploring Etoys directly, Help files, and
documentation on Web sites. For almost all Etoys terms, I included
examples of the corresponding graphical objects, such as Morphs,
menus, tiles, and icons. Please review.
There remain a few items for which I did not find answers, so I am
inquiring here.
forward direction: What effect or use does it have?
Graphic value type: How does one change or use the value?
KeyStroke (Script Status): I don't see it on the Script Status list.
Patch value type: What can one do with a variable of this type?
Recognizer (Squeak): What is it? What should it be applied to? How is
it invoked? There is a keyboard shortcut for it in Etoys, but I don't
understand its effects.
I see on scanning through what I wrote that I need to add explanations
of the three-button mouse and the corresponding mouse-keyboard
combinations.
I am quite pleased to have found that so much can be uncovered by
exploring the system, but there remains a great deal about Etoys
programming that I have not yet uncovered or found documented
anywhere. The next step for me is going to be a greatly enhanced
Turtle Graphics project, incorporating material translated from Turtle
Art in Sugar, such as my own Turtle Art tutorials. After that, I want
to learn how a number of objects and projects in Etoys were
constructed, and whether I can do the same in Etoys for other
purposes, or whether I have to work in Squeak. The book of Etoys Quick
Guides in the Help flap is among the first such targets.
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
Are we happy with the proposed summary for Etoys? If not, please edit, it's a wiki :)
- Bert -
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Gonzalo Odiard <gonzalo(a)laptop.org>
> Subject: Call to Activities Maintainers! Summary info
> Date: 25. September 2012 16:41:06 MESZ
> To: Sugar-dev Devel <sugar-devel(a)lists.sugarlabs.org>, Rafael Enrique Ortiz Guerrero <dirakx(a)gmail.com>, Walter Bender <walter.bender(a)gmail.com>, Aleksey Lim <alsroot(a)activitycentral.org>, manuel quiñones <manuq(a)laptop.org>, Bert Freudenberg <bert(a)freudenbergs.de>
>
> Hi Activities maintainers,
> In the next Sugar version, a summary will be displayed in the activities list,
> instead of the installation time. Something like [1] but in the xo looks better because we have more space.
>
> I have requested help to the Learning Team, to propose a summary for activities,
> thinking in have a pedagogical view, and Melissa and Claudia prepared a proposal for us.
> Now we have the help of activity maintainers.
>
> You only need add a summary filed in the activity.info file and release a new version of the activity.
> Is important do it as soon as possible, to allow translators to work on this,
> and then we can do a new release including translations in 2 or 3 weeks.
>
> The list of proposed summaries is here [2]
>
> I know we all have a lot of tasks this cycle, I hope you can help to have the activities list complete!
>
> Thank you!
>
> Gonzalo
> Acttivities Team
>
> [1] http://dev.laptop.org/~gonzalo/images/Summary_in_listview.png
> [2] http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Godiard/12.1.0/ActivitiesSummary
>
On Thu, September 20, 2012 12:42 pm, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
> On 2012-09-20, at 18:27, Edward Mokurai Cherlin <mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, September 20, 2012 7:56 am, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>>>
>>> On 2012-09-19, at 19:24, karl ramberg <karlramberg(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 5:20 PM, Edward Mokurai Cherlin
>>>> <mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Badge
>>>>> Fridge
>>>>> NebraskaServer
>>>> These are all of a etoys networking experiment.
>>>> I do not think they are of much use to students unless they are
>>>> enhanced quite a bit
>>>
>>> They are used in Sugar for collaboration. On other platforms they are
>>> too
>>> hard to use in a classroom, agreed, because you have to type in IP
>>> addresses manually. It would need some equivalent of Sugar's "presence
>>> service" to easily connect to peers.
>>
>> The conclusion seems to be that they should not be exposed in the
>> Object Catalog. Is that right? Can we hide them?
>
> They are already hidden, since they do not appear in any category.
They are not hidden. They appear in the alphabetical listing, where
every devoted and systematic discoverer will come upon them and be
baffled.
Can't help it. I'm a born lever-puller.
Ringo, Yellow Submarine
>> May I put your comment in the manual as an explanation of why there is
>> no explanation of these objects? ^_^
>
>
> Or an explanation how they work.
That would be fine, if I had one, or if somebody who did volunteered
to write it.
> But mentioning them is a good idea, since
> people may stumble upon them like you did.
>
> - Bert -
> _______________________________________________
> etoys-dev mailing list
> etoys-dev(a)squeakland.org
> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
On Thu, September 20, 2012 7:56 am, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>
> On 2012-09-19, at 19:24, karl ramberg <karlramberg(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 5:20 PM, Edward Mokurai Cherlin
>> <mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Badge
>>> Fridge
>>> NebraskaServer
>> These are all of a etoys networking experiment.
>> I do not think they are of much use to students unless they are
>> enhanced quite a bit
>
> They are used in Sugar for collaboration. On other platforms they are too
> hard to use in a classroom, agreed, because you have to type in IP
> addresses manually. It would need some equivalent of Sugar's "presence
> service" to easily connect to peers.
The conclusion seems to be that they should not be exposed in the
Object Catalog. Is that right? Can we hide them?
May I put your comment in the manual as an explanation of why there is
no explanation of these objects? ^_^
> - Bert -
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> etoys-dev mailing list
> etoys-dev(a)squeakland.org
> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
>
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
Thanks, Bert. Now back to documenting Etoys. I have started working on
the Common Tiles and Menu Items chapter and the Objects chapter of the
reference manual.
http://booki.flossmanuals.net/etoys-reference-manual/_edit/
Some of the work is straightforward, but there are some objects
plaintively marked
TBD VOLUNTEER NEEDED TO WRITE THIS SECTION
which I take to mean that nobody on the project so far understands the
purpose or workings of those objects. Arrow Editor and Attachment
Adjuster, for starters. I was able to discover some of how Arrow
Editor works to create character morphs in a selection of fonts, but
the rest remains opaque to my explorations.
There are apparently more menus than are documented.
On Wed, September 12, 2012 11:18 am, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
> On 2012-09-12, at 07:28, Edward Mokurai Cherlin <mokurai(a)sugarlabs.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Can you see my signature block correctly now?
>>
>> --
>> Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशबà¥à¤¦à¤—रà¥à¤œ/نشبدگرج)
>> Cherlin
>
> Yes, it now comes UTF-8 encoded. You can check for yourself in the
> archive:
>
> http://lists.squeakland.org/pipermail/etoys-dev/2012-September/007403.html
>
> - Bert -
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
--
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks