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Pencil code

pencilcode.net

182 pointsxiaq28 comments

I couldn't really help myself ... whenever I see any sort of "turtle graphics" engine, I have to re-write my favorite line-art program:

http://doctorfractal.pencilcode.net/edit/mystery_one

Sadly, that halts only a tiny way into the drawing when "speed Infinity" is set, and even at "speed 1000" the turtle still seems to run pretty slow (at least it finishes the whole drawing that way).

To anyone who can't see output: adjust the "origin" by changing the first jumpxy block to (-50,-50)

Thanks OP!

That is flipping sweet! Ahh man, takes me back to 1982 sitting in from of an Apple II in 2nd grade fiddling with turtle. Shudders... Ugh, so old. Makes me want to abandon using these new fangled 3D Animation FX softwares and make some green lines and purple circles, drink some Ovaltine, eat some cookies and have a nap.

Sorry, had all the nostalgia there.

This must be memory triggerings too, right?

Making glowing green lines and purple circles is harder than it used to be, because that combination of hardware isn't popular[0]. It might not be that hard to use an old monitor, but it was easier in 92.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7066657

Ahaha, noice1, never thought to take it that far. Seems like there's most probably a web page out there that will do glowing green terminal emulation of some sort. Nothing's going to fit me in my old aquaman under-roos though, lol!

At first glance, this looks like a modern implementation of Logo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_%28programming_language%29

It even has a turtle

Logo was how I got my start, took me many years to look back and realize that it was even programming, it was so much fun, I would draw crazy scenes. I really wish I had access to any of my old work.

For anyone wondering about the similarity of the block editor (called Droplet) with Blockly, Scatch, etc., the author of Pencil Code has a good paper on Droplet and previous work: http://ideas.pencilcode.net/home/htmlcss/droplet-paper.pdf

Is this made with Blockly ( https://developers.google.com/blockly/ ) or a copy of it? There's already many sites using blockly to learn to code, the example linked looks much like a copy of Google's Maze example https://blockly-games.appspot.com/maze?lang=en

The block editor is Droplet: https://github.com/PencilCode/droplet. The author of Pencil Code has a good paper which outlined the history of block editors: http://ideas.pencilcode.net/home/htmlcss/droplet-paper.pdf.

Maybe https://scratch.mit.edu/

We're hiring! http://scratch.mit.edu/jobs/

> Learn professional programming languages using an editor that lets you work in either blocks or text.

I was hoping this would be a visual editor for existing mainstream languages (Python, JS, PHP, C#, etc.). Sadly it isn't, but this makes me want to make one.

It is, for JavaScript and CoffeeScript. Additional adapters can also be created. Read http://ideas.pencilcode.net/home/htmlcss/droplet-paper.pdf :)

Oh I see! I hadn't noticed it was CoffeeScript.

I thought of http://pencil-code.nordita.org (large scale academic finite-difference solver for magnetohydrodynamics, applications for solar dynamics, supernovas etc)

(no affiliation, I just work in a related area)

Logo Writer and Turtle Graphics! Definitely brings back memories. This is great for early beginners and children. This makes me wonder about what we could create that's similar to this, but for more robust work for adults.

I like these types of projects. Easy to use and easy to get kids into basic coding. Would be a great piece to use in schools for an upcoming "Day of Code".

This is really cool.

One suggestion -- expand the function names! It took me a little bit to figure out that "fd" was "forward" and "rt" was "right."

It doesn't seem like that much more time to type out "forward" than "fd" -- especially if you're just clicking on function names -- and it'd go a long way in making the code more approachable and readable.

Pretty awesome, you can write functions, use variables, etc... This is how I always wanted Scratch to be, thanks.

This looks amazing, and pretty sure I'll be using it with my students.

Would be nice if it supported Python, as that's our preferred language, but JS will do.

You will be happy to know that the author is interested in adding Python support and has listed it as a potential GSoC project (http://ideas.pencilcode.net/).

For those of you feeling nostalgia for Turtle Logo: http://turtleacademy.com/

I like writing fractals in logo.

http://leni536.pencilcode.net/edit/koch

http://sputum.pencilcode.net/edit/first :)

Pencil code = Droplet + LOGO.

It's super good for beginners, especially for kids!

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