[Squeakland] Help needed on reply about squeak

Bert Freudenberg bert at freudenbergs.de
Mon Dec 11 17:24:32 UTC 2006


Re "squares aren't resizable" I guess he hasn't even discovered  
halos, yet. Without them, etoys indeed is pretty hard to use ;)


- Bert -


On Dec 11, 2006, at 8:52 , Alan Kay wrote:

> Hi --
>
> We could use lots more documentation in lots more languages most  
> certainly. It would be nice to have all the writing systems of the  
> world available and usable (the OLPC machine will probably force us  
> to do that).
>
> I think he missed the book "Powerful Ideas in the Classroom" which  
> would give him a start with his daughter (and for himself). Etoys  
> is not at all about widgets, just the opposite. He also seems to  
> have missed the tutorials that are on the website.
>
> I don't understand the comment, "squares aren't resizable".
>
> He should be encouraged to try a little harder.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alan
>
> At 07:39 AM 12/11/2006, Brad Fuller wrote:
>> I received a reply on another mailing list from a person who  
>> appears to
>> have installed and briefly tried squeak, but had some negative  
>> comments.
>> I was wondering if others here could comment on his reply about  
>> squeak
>> and I'll condense a msg to him and send it out to the mailing list.
>>
>> The original msg was a request (from someone else) asking about audio
>> software for children - the thread also included general software for
>> children.
>>
>> Here's his short msg:
>>
>> ===
>> Just installed it. A very creative but frustrating package. As  
>> with too
>> many of these things, one must be able to read and that in English  
>> (or a
>> few European languages?). Fine print abounds in what at first  
>> looks like
>> a very sparse UI.
>>
>> The program abounds with objects and widgets. Some very creative and
>> versatile, others frustratingly crude. Graphic objects like squares
>> cannot be resized (nothing stops one from reprogramming them and then
>> dutifully uploading the scalable versions for others to enjoy-- 
>> smalltalk
>> was once the rage.)
>>
>> Smalltalk 80 is, well, 26 years old. Before Unicode so is  
>> incompatable
>> with mutlingual keyboard choices. No Hebrew for my daughter, not  
>> in UI
>> and cannot type it in to text objects either. Truetype fonts  
>> (newer than
>> smalltalk80) are beatutiful but they are also Unicode based nowadays.
>>
>> I think most kids would enjoy trying various widgets but run out of
>> patience doing anything more with them. Most adults would as well.
>>
>> --
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Squeakland mailing list
>> Squeakland at squeakland.org
>> http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>
>





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