>I'm sure this is a FAQ but is there any info on using squeak to teach
>children about programming?

Not as far as I know, but please let me know if you find such information!
In the BYTE Smalltalk issue, there was a piece by Adele Goldberg asking if
Smalltalk-80 was appropriate for children, and the answer was (some
hesitantly) yes.  But I know of few efforts to try over the years.

Kim Rose (of SqC) is working with some teachers to use Squeak with
children, especially starting from the Viewer framework.  But my sense is
that these are still in the fledgling stage. At this point, there aren't
even too many College/University classes using Squeak, so I think we're
still pretty new to the teaching-Squeak game.

An interesting question is whether Squeak makes a good *first* language, or
rather, Squeak-as-Smalltalk-80 might be too complex and requiring too much
discipline for a first language.  Classes are hard to grok.  I think that's
one of the reasons that the Viewer system implements a prototype-based view
of objects.  I think Squeak is aiming toward being a great first *system*
to learn, where there may be multiple styles or paradigms for programming
available within the same space, with scaffolded (supported) transitions
between them.

Mark

--------------------------
Mark Guzdial : Georgia Tech : College of Computing : Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
(404) 894-5618 : Fax (404) 894-0673 : guzdial at cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Mark.Guzdial.html