At 3:12 PM -0800 11/27/00, Ken Kahn wrote:
>Hi all.
>
>The reason I was particularly interested in the discussion of ToonTalk by
>the Squeak community is because I'd like to understand better the relative
>merits of the two systems. Here's my current understanding (note that I have
>yet to check out the "Tiles" stuff in Squeak).

The "Tiles" stuff (also called EToys or Viewers) is important here -- 
it's an easily-approachable level that can lead to programming 
textually in Squeak.  I've got a walk-through of building one demo 
with EToys in my textbook. A draft chapter on the Morphic stuff 
including EToys is available in the Squeak Swiki at 
http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/uploads/programmingmorphic.pdf


>Squeak's special strengths are its mallebility, its consistency/elegance,
>and its implementation/portability.
>
>ToonTalk's special strengths are its game-like program construction and
>debugging environment, its support for programming by example, and its model
>of concurrency.

EToys also has a model of concurrency that's pretty powerful.  I'll 
let others speak to the other points.

>
>Besides hearing whether the above summaries are accurate, I'd like to
>understand the Squeak community's stance on children constructing programs.
>For example, is the view that Squeak is well-suited for children above a
>certain age? And if so what age? Is there anyone out there working with
>young children and Squeak? If so how can one find out more?

Various folk here are trying Squeak out with kids, including Kim Rose 
of Squeak Central and Stephane Ducasse.

Mark

--------------------------
Mark Guzdial : Georgia Tech : College of Computing : Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
Associate Professor - Learning Sciences & Technologies.
Collaborative Software Lab - http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/csl/
(404) 894-5618 : Fax (404) 894-0673 : guzdial at cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Mark.Guzdial.html