Squeak
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Definition
- Squeak is highly portable open-source Smalltalk with powerful multimedia facilities. Squeak is used for a wide variety of computing tasks, ranging from child education to innovative research in computer science, or creation of advanced dynamic web sites.
- In education, Squeak often just refers to Squeak Etoys, an easy visual programming / execution envionment built on top of Squeak that is a very popular tool for building microworlds (designers, teachers and children as authors).
“Squeak Etoys was inspired by LOGO, PARC-Smalltalk, Hypercard, and starLOGO. It is a media-rich authoring envi-ronment with a simple powerful scripted object model for many kinds of objects created by end-users that runs on many platform, and is free and open source. It includes 2D and 3D graphics, images, text, particles, pres-entations, web-pages, videos, sound and MIDI, etc. It includes 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” ([1])
Squeak in education
- Squeakland is the home for Etoy, an easy graphical programming environment built on top of Squeak. Actually in education, when people mention Squeak they think Etoy.
- Scratch is a programming language for children animations, games, and interactive art. Developped at MIT's LifeLong Kindergarten group.
- ComiKit is a Swedish product for making games and interactive pictures.
- The Swiki server is a very popular Wiki System (despite the fact that development seems to be frozen). E.g. TECFA runs 2 Swiki servers that are used in the school system.
Links
References
- Allen-Conn, BJ and Kim Rose (2003), Powerful Ideas in the Classroom, Using Squeak to Enhance Math and Science Learning, Viewpoints Research Institute.
ISBN 0974313106