[linux-audio-user] Re: Squeak (was Software suitable for children)

[Cesare Marilungo]

David Baron wrote:
> Just installed it. A very creative but frustrating package. As with too many 
> of these things, one must be able to read and that in English (or a few 
> European languages?). Fine print abounds in what at first looks like a very 
> sparse UI.
>
> The program abounds with objects and widgets. Some very creative and 
> versatile, others frustratingly crude. Graphic objects like squares cannot be 
> resized (nothing stops one from reprogramming them and then dutifully 
> uploading the scalable versions for others to enjoy--smalltalk was once the 
> rage.)
>
> Smalltalk 80 is, well, 26 years old. Before Unicode so is incompatable with 
> mutlingual keyboard choices. No Hebrew for my daughter, not in UI and cannot 
> type it in to text objects either. Truetype fonts (newer than smalltalk80) 
> are beatutiful but they are also Unicode based nowadays.
>
> I think most kids would enjoy trying various widgets but run out of patience 
> doing anything more with them. Most adults would as well.
>
> A model (allbeit not an audio app) for a program sutiable for children but 
> versatile enough to be of interest to their parents as well: Tuxpaint. This 
> one is superb and is also in use in many schools. (Also needs more languages 
> in the UI!)
>
>
>   
Apart from Alan Kay himself 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewpoints_Research_Institute), take a 
look at the Viewpoint Research Board of Advisors:

http://www.viewpointsresearch.org/about.html

John Perry Barlow, Vint Cerf, Richard Dawkins, Doug Engelbart, Marvin 
Minsky, Nicholas Negroponte, Seymour Papert and so on.

Doesn't any of these names ring a bell? Anyway, at VR, they're using and 
continuing the development of squeak.

Did you know that you're making ridicule of a big chunk of the history 
of informatics?

Ciao,

c.

-- 
http://www.cesaremarilungo.com