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XLogo4Schools - Wiki Pages

In near future, you will be able to find the [XLogo4Schools Documentation], a [XLogo Language Reference], [Sample Programs] and [Teaching Material] here.

Description

XLogo4Schools is a Logo interpreter and a programming environment specialized for the use in schools.

It is an extended, altered, and reengineered version of XLogo, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

To achieve better user experience and satisfaction in schools, the following features were added.

• Have multiple [workspaces] (this might be a class room...)
• of which each can contain multiple [users or projects]
• Which all have common [settings] and will be managed in the same directory
• Optionally, workspace management and settings access can be [password protected] such that only teachers and administrators can access it
• Each user space or project can have [multiple files] which are visible to its owner
• It is possible to [Search Procedures] by name
• All changes to Logo source files or settings are [automatically saved]
• The [user interface] was changed with the goal to maker both pupils' and teachers' lives easier. Therefore only the most important features and options are shown in the working area.
• We included a so-called [Contest/Record Mode]. It allows to track the programmer's behavior which is intended for research purposes, and also to simplify conducting programming contests in schools.

The Logo dialect used is almost the same as the Xlogo Dialect, but some Logo commands were reimplemented to fit with the new programming environment and workspace. Some commands which were buggy in the original XLogo have been fixed. The interpreter works now more efficient due to the usage of more suitable data structures. The output of turtle graphics is now smoother and more appealing due to different rendering settings.

About The Author

Marko Živković is a Master's student of computer science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, ETH Zürich.

Since February 2012 Marko has been teaching programming with Logo in dozens of Switzerland's Primary schools using XLogo. The children were of age 10 to 15. Through various conversations with teachers, children, and other Logo tutors, Marko has collected many new ideas which could help improve learning and teaching of programming in primary schools. Many of them have been realized in XLogo4Schools. XLogo4Schools was developed in the course of Marko's Bachelor Thesis "XLogo4Schools - Reengineering of XLogo" in the year 2013 under supervision of Prof. Juraj Hromkovič and Giovanni Serafini, supported by the ABZ team.

Remember that our children are capable to do much more than we ever expected. We just need to provide them with the right opportunities and tools.

The wiki uses Markdown syntax.

Project Members:

• Marko (admin)