A More Natural Programming Language for Children

大多数孩子不是程序员，但他们喜欢开发类似于他们最喜欢的商业应用程序的软件，如游戏和教育应用程序。如今的编程环境使这一点变得太难了。这个项目的目标是研究儿童(五年级及以上)如何对编程概念进行推理，然后为儿童创建一种新的通用编程语言和环境，以利用这些发现。新系统的所有方面都将通过可用性技术进行彻底分析，如认知维度和儿童用户测试。该语言将是通用的，因为它不会局限于创建特定类型的程序。它将是可扩展的、模块化的、可伸缩的和结构良好的，因此学生可以轻松地编写从一行到数千行的程序。与目前大多数儿童环境不同，该系统将支持创建完整和复杂的程序。PI将利用现代技术来简化编程过程，包括直接操作和演示技术、编程环境技术(如结构编辑器)，以及通过利用和重用现有组件来扩展程序的机制。多年来，一直没有一种成功的儿童新编程语言。由于PI的系统将基于对儿童思维方式的经验研究，它应该有很好的机会让大多数儿童(进而是普通公众)创建有趣和有用的应用程序http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~NatProg

Most children are not programmers but would like to create software that is similar to their favorite commercial applications, such as games and educational applications. Today's programming environments make this too difficult. The goals of this project are to study how children (fifth grade and older) reason about programming concepts, and then to create a new general-purpose programming language and environment for children that takes advantage of these findings. All aspects of the new system will be thoroughly analyzed with usability techniques such as Cognitive Dimensions and user tests with children. The language will be general-purpose, in that it will not be limited to creating a particular kind of program. It will be extensible, modular, scalable, and well-structured, so students can easily write programs that range from one line all the way up to many thousands of lines. Unlike most current environments for children, the system will support the creation of complete and sophisticated programs. The PI will exploit modern technologies to simplify the programming process, including direct manipulation and demonstrational techniques, programming environment technologies like structure editors, and mechanisms for extending programs by harnessing and reusing existing components. There has not been a successful new programming language for children in many years. Since the PI's system will be based on empirical studies of how children think, it should have an excellent chance of allowing the majority of children (and, by extension, the general public) to create interesting and useful applicationshttp://www.cs.cmu.edu/~NatProg