[Squeakland] new etoys comments, questions
Bill Kerr
billkerr at gmail.com
Sat Sep 20 19:26:59 PDT 2008
Some of the new features on etoys are great and / or look really
interesting.
Here are some comments and questions about the new etoys (running on
Windows) based on a preliminary look:
1) Default saving goes to a non existent folder C:\My Pictures\My Squeak and
so saving fails. Solve this problem by holding down the mouse button on the
Keep icon and then an option to navigate to a desired folder becomes
available. This is not explained on the balloon help of the Keep icon,
although it is explained on the balloon help of the Find icon.
2) Help: When you load the paint tools the Help fades out. You can click the
arrow to the next page but can't Jump to a different Help sequence for the
Paint tools. You have to close the Paint tools then Jump to a different Help
page and then reopen the Paint tools
3) Can't find a timer? The clock on a script has a tick rate, the default is
8 ticks per second, but how can I program that to display a timer?
4) Show code textually is a nice feature - would be even better if you could
open the code window to reveal all the code at once - good for learning by
copying and pasting to other media
5) How do you set the "preserve trash" preference mentioned in the trash can
help balloon?
6) There doesn't appear to be a version number?
On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 4:30 AM, Kim Rose <kim.rose at vpri.org> wrote:
> Release Notes - Etoys -September 2008
>
> These notes accompany the download of Etoys available via
> www.squeakland.org as of September 11, 2008. In the past, the system has
> often been referred to as "Squeak", but to help distinguish it from other
> versions of Squeak, we will refer to the version now available on the
> website simply as "Etoys."
>
> The team at Viewpoints Research Institute (VPRI) has been working on the
> "Etoys" activity for the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) "XO" platform. We
> started from the previous version of "Squeakland Squeak", then added new
> features and made many bug fixes, performance improvements, and visual
> tweaks.
>
> VPRI has decided to release the Etoys activity for the XO as the
> "universal" Etoys version for all platforms. Advantages include:
> 1) Two years of work have gone into improving Etoys overall;
> 2) Etoys will be identical on the XO, Windows, Macintosh and Linux
> operating systems;
> 3) The new features, enhancements, and fixes will be beneficial to
> everyone.
>
> In this way, all users of the XO and other platforms will be "compatible"
> and be able to share their projects and documentation.
>
> Below is a list of "New Features", "New UI Changes", and "Notes on
> Compatibility".
>
> "New Features"
>
> -- Functions.
> There are now over a dozen mathematical functions available for
> use in arithmetic expressions in scripts, in addition to the arithmetic
> operators. (Click on the golden treasure box of a script editor, drag
> out an "abs" tile, drop it on any numeric-valued tile or phrase in a
> script, and then (unless you actually want "abs") choose the actual
> function name you desire from the menu that shows up when you click on
> it. There is also a choice called "parenthesis", which serves to put a
> subexpression within parentheses, in order to influence order of
> evaluation.
> (There is also a way to "wrap" an existing numeric tile expression in a
> function, by holding down the "shift" key as you click on an "extension
> arrow" -- this will make the expression governed by the extension arrow
> become the argument of a function call.)
>
> -- Arithmetic Operator Precedence.
> The arithmetic operators (+ - * / // \\ and min and max) now have
> more conventional precedence; i.e., multiplication and
> division are now "stronger" than addition and
> subtraction. (See below under "Notes on Compatibility" for more
> details.)
>
> -- "RepeatTimes" tile.
> A tile to write a simple loop is provided.
>
> -- Display Scaling.
> We think it useful to offer a "standard", normalized screen size for
> users
> on non-XO platforms, so that a project made on one computer can have a
> consistent appearance across a broad range of computers with varying
> display
> sizes and screen resolutions. Because the XO has a screen with 1200 x
> 900
> pixels, this was chosen as the "standard" size. On a computer with a
> different display resolution, 1200 x 900 pixels are scaled to fit in t=
he
> display. If the actual display size is vastly different from 1200 x
> 900, the
> scaling may not look very nice; in such cases, scaling can be
> turned off from the menu bar.
>
> -- The Online Help System ("Quick Guides")
> There are now over 60 help guides included in the system. Click on t=
he
> question mark button in the menu bar to see them. They can also be
> printed as a single PDF file found on the Squeakland and Etoys/olpc
> websites.
>
> -- Polygon Vertices.
> In a Polygon, the vertices are accessible from tile scripting.
> Visit the polygon category in the viewer of a Polygon.
>
> -- World Stethoscope.
> World Stethoscope, a tool to use the input from external sensor devices
> is included.
>
> -- Event Theatre.
> A tool that provides a better way to record and play back a
> user's actions. This can be used to create small snippets of tutorial=
s;
> voice-over can be added later, and there is also an "Event-Roll" tool
> for modest
> after-the-fact editing of such recordings.
>
> -- A New Generation of the Particle System (aka "Kedama").
> Kedama has been entirely rewritten for this release. The new version =
is
> faster
> in most cases, and there are semantic changes as well -- see more
> details in the
> compatibility section below.)
>
> -- All Players Tool.
> The tools labeled "Players" in the Supplies provides a list of all
> players
> in the current project.
>
> -- Book Page Reverting.
> Book pages can be made revertable. Book pages can be marked as
> revertable, and such pages can be reverted to the state when the
> book was last saved into a project.
>
> -- More Sound Compression Options.
> In the Sound Recorder, there are choices for Sound Compression.
>
> "New UI Changes"
>
> -- Bigger and More Consistent Fonts and Buttons.
> In general, the tools have been redesigned for screens with a higher
> resolution. Larger fonts are used, and buttons in viewers, scriptors,
> and other
> tools have now been made more uniform.
>
> -- Stationary Navigator Menu Bar at the Top.
> Instead of having an orange pop-in/pop-out navigator bar at the bottom
> of the
> screen, the navigator bar is now located at the top of screen, and is
> stationary.
> Type alt-RETURN at any time to show or hide it. The new Navigator
> follows the
> design of the OLPC's UI specification, but we took the liberty to make
> it narrow,
> and change its color.
>
> -- New Supplies.
> Click on the "treasure box" in the navigator menu bar at the top of the
> screen to
> open or close the new "Supplies" flap. You can resize the flap by
> dragging its
> bottom gray edge.
>
> -- Script Editor ("scriptor") Redesign.
> Layout, colors, proportions, menus, and fonts have all been changed.
> A "Gold Box" has been added -- click on it to get a palette of useful
> tiles; click
> on any item in the palette to get a copy of it for use in your script.
>
> -- Better Drop Zone Feedback in Scriptors.
> The green drop zone that shows when dragging over a script is
> greatly improved.
>
> -- Right Click for Halo.
> On Windows, the default is changed so that right mouse button
> brings up the halo.
>
> -- Opening Screen.
> The start-up screen now provides links to tutorials and example
> projects.
>
> "Notes on Compatibility"
>
> Most projects created in an older "Squeakland" version should load and wo=
rk
> fine in the new system. (However, projects created in the new etoys syst=
em
> will *not* be
> usable in any older Squeakland version.)
>
> A few old projects may exhibit different behavior when loaded into the new
> system. Here are some things to watch out for:
>
> - Because of the arithmetic operator precedence change, a script
> that contains a long chain of arithmetic may produce different
> results; e.g., "3 * 4 + 5" used to be interpreted as "3 * (4 + 5)"
> and the result was 27, but now it is "(3 * 4) + 5" and the result is
> 17. Such a script should be editted (perhaps adding the
> "parenthesis" described above) to be properly interpreted.
>
> - The size and look of scriptors and viewers will change upon
> loading. The new shapes may hide other carefully located
> objects, and if the project depends on the specific sizes of these
> tools, it may not work in the same way.
>
> - The changes to Kedama are great enough that, although an old project
> with Kedama
> may load and may even run acceptably, it is guaranteed that editing an
> old
> project in the new release does not work. For proper migration of any
> Kedama
> project, the project should be built afresh in the new system;
> additionally,
> the semantics change may require some changes to the project's scripts.
> This
> only applies to projects that have the small window where one script
> controls
> hundreds of tiny turtles and patches.
>
> All in all, we hope this version will be seen as a great opportunity to
> redo existing interesting projects, if needed. Such projects can be shar=
ed
> among the millions of of Etoys users including XO users.
>
> We hope that by using Etoys, you, or your children will learn more about
> how our world works and have fun in the process!
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Squeakland mailing list
> Squeakland at squeakland.org
> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>
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