Scratch (physical version)

[shaunlebron]

How can Scratch be made more physical?

Specifically, how can we construct Scratch programs on a table with blocks and projected images?

Is Paper Programs a good fit for this? Or can we build something more appropriate for its needs?

Blocks can obviously be printed and fitted together.

The dynamic parts of these pieces are not trivial to implement:

• Growth - Some pieces have to wrap other dynamically pieces. These wrapper pieces can be segmented into end pieces and perhaps the projector can fill in the gaps between. For example, the If () Then, Else block will have four pieces: if, then, else, and end, and the projector can just draw the flexible connectors between them.
• Inputs - Some blocks require dropdown selections, setting numbers, and setting text. It's tempting to put hardware on the pieces to accommodate direct manipulation, and have a display readout
• Sturdiness/Mobility - pieces can have magnets on them, laid out on a magnetic flat surface so the program can be easily manipulated without falling apart easily. That balance seems important. For example, if everything fit together like LEGOs, it would be sturdy, but tiresome to insert or remove some line in the program.

[wnjnz]

There are efforts to connect physical computing with the Scratch learning platform with the Raspberry Pi.

We can use Scratch to control digital output on a Raspberry Pi GPIO pin to use a push button to turn on and off an LED light.

The user experience is that a digital program presents in a physical way. Would a dynamic experience entail the opposite - that a physical button press would change how a digital program behaves? What is "dynamic"? Is it that there is changeable user input in the physical world beyond a mouse click and a keyboard stroke - how we might move a piece of paper or how we might press a giant arcade button?

Chris brought up a good point during session 2 - the interactive physical medium in Paper Programs is the data input and not the program.

It's also really hard to compare the two because they're designed for different things:

Scratch is an online learning community designed to teach about computer science principles in a creative and accessible way. We are able to quickly make and share projects by snapping together blocks logically, and organized by how we as humans naturally see and group objects. This experience jsut also happens to teach us abstract computer science ideas without our having to memorize syntax peculiarities.

I feel like Paper Programs is an image recognition project that allows experienced programmers design how something a computer recognizes behaves. That something is printed on a piece of paper and is super fun to program and lends itself to collaboration and learning.

At the end of the day should we mimic the Scratch block snapping experience with Paper Programs?

[shaunlebron]

Fun train of thought—a lot to unpack and think about here

• line between data and code can get blurry over time—as in languages like lisp and assembly, where code is data that directs computation. If that seems contrived, I think at a certain point, the data described by the inputs in this new medium can start to become computation in its own right when combined in complex enough ways, hypothetically.
• i'm not sure if this new medium is only for experienced programmers. it certainly feels that way because there isn't a base of programs to play with. but once those programs are there and running, users begin learning about computation through their interactions with it. But we need to go to Dynamicland to know for sure.
• it's hard to put ropes around a medium that I don't fully understand yet, so I'm still very unsure about should be done with it!