Etoys (programming language)

Infobox programming language
name = Etoys

paradigm = object-oriented prototype-based, educational
year = 1996
designer = Alan Kay
developer = Scott Wallace, Ted Kaehler, John Maloney, Andreas Raab
latest release version =
latest release date =
typing = dynamic
implementations = 1. Squeak (Morphic)2. Squeak (Tweak)3. Python
dialects =
influenced_by = Logo, Smalltalk, HyperCard, AgentSheets, StarLogo
influenced = Tweak, Croquet, Scratch

Etoys is a child-friendly computer environment and object-oriented prototype-based programming language for use in education.

Motives, influences

Etoys development was inspired and directed by Alan Kay and his work to advance and support constructionist learning. Primary influences include Seymour Papert and the Logo programming language, a dialect of Lisp optimized for educational use; work done at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, PARC; Smalltalk, HyperCard, AgentSheets, and StarLogo. Scott Wallace is the main author [http://weather-dimensions.com/tedkaehler/us/ted/resume/resume-oct03.html] . Promotion and development of the main Squeak version of E-toys is co-ordinated by the Viewpoints Research Institute, a U.S. educational non-profit.

E-toys was a major influence on a similar Squeak-based programming environment known as Scratch. Scratch was designed with E-toys code in the early 21st century by the MIT Media Lab, initially targeted at after-school computer clubs.

Features

The EToys system is based on the idea of programmable virtual entities behaving on the computer screen. Etoys provides a media-rich authoring environment with a simple, powerful scripted object model for many kinds of objects created by end-users. It includes 2D and 3D graphics, images, text, particles, presentations, web-pages, videos, sound and MIDI, the ability to share desktops with other Etoy users in real-time, so many forms of immersive mentoring and play can be done over the Internet. It is multilingual, and has been used successfully in United States, Europe, South America, Japan, Korea, India, Nepal, and elsewhere.

Versions

All Etoys versions are based on object-oriented programming languages. Etoys runs on more than 20 platforms bit-identically. Versions exist written in three programming languages. The original and most widely used is based on Squeak, a dialect of Smalltalk. The second is also based on Squeak, but uses the optional Tweak programming environment instead of Squeak's default Morphic environment. The third is based on Python and is named PataPata [http://sourceforge.net/projects/patapata/] . PataPata has been abandoned by its author.

In 2006 – 2007, the Squeak Morphic version was adapted for distribution on the OLPC XO-1 educational machine, sometimes known as the $100 laptop. Viewpoints Research Institute participates in the One Laptop per Child association, and E-toys is pre-installed on all XO-1 laptops.

The licensing is free and open source.

External links

* [http://www.squeakland.org/ Squeakland] — Etoys official site (Viewpoints Research Institute)
* [http://www.squeakland.org/tutorials/ Etoys, Tutorials & Other Goodies] — gives some examples of Etoys
* [http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Etoys Etoys] — on the One Laptop per Child wiki
* [http://www.squeakcmi.org/ SqueakCMI] — a Library Collection of more than 400 projects with a special category for Etoys OLPC. Lesson materials developed at the [http://www.mste.uiuc.edu Office for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education] at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign