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Squeak With Robots

Posted on Saturday, 2007-February-10. Filed under: SmallTalk, Squeak |

Squeak: Programming With Robots is a children's introduction to programming, similar to the 1980s LOGO phenomenon.  Where LOGO has turtles, Squeak with the "Ready" image used in this book uses robots.  I am using this book with my nephews.  This article will not really get into it yet, but future articles will.  If you don’t yet have the book, you should obtain it.

To start out, you need to download the image for this book. The ReadyPC or ReadyMac zip file, depending on your platform, is an environment designed for basic experiment-based learning.  It contains the files that are needed to go through the tutorials in the book and to go on to do further things with it.

Extract the zip file to your desktop or your "My Documents" folder or somewhere else that is convenient for you.  NOTE: If you are using Linux, you should download the tarball from the Sueak.org site, install it, and then download and unzip this.

To start Squeak with your Ready image, go to the folder and drag Ready.image onto Squeak.exe [Windows] or Squeak [Mac].  For Linux, open a terminal and change to the directory.  Type in squeak Ready.image &.  You will see a cute, cartoonish field with a "robot" in the middle.

If you hover your mouse pointer over the robot and the robot factory, you will see little pop-up balloons with information about the item.  If you click on the robot, you'll get a blank balloon.  This enables you to give the robot commands. Type in go: 200.  See?  You are programming already!

We will go through some of the things in this book, so if you are following along, buy the book Squeak: Programming With Robots.

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