It’s hard to believe that it’s already time for programming–this semester has gone so quickly. Over Thanksgiving, I was talking with my brother, who is a senior studying mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, about this class and about the programming we’d be doing this week. I told him that I thought that the program was called Scratch; he said he wasn’t familiar with it. After watching the video and reading the start-up guide, I understand why; it looks as though the program will be great for someone like me with absolutely no programming experience, but not as practical for someone like my brother who is well-versed in several programming languages.

I’m looking forward to working with Scratch because it seems to be designed for anyone; the basic format is easy-to-use, and the steps used to create movements or sequences of events are clear and simple. Scratch is a great introduction to programming; it illuminates the basic principles while being user-friendly to those of us who are less tech-savvy. I had been expecting to be working with a programming language similar to something my brother uses in his work–I’m glad to know other options exist!

I was a little bit surprised by Scratch’s somewhat dated graphics (though its capabilities are impressive). I guess this makes sense in the context of its being developed by MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten research group, which “develops technologies that, in the spirit of the blocks and fingerpaint of kindergarten, expand the range of what people can design, create, and learn”. The graphics are simple, yet effective.

Scratch reminded me of Alice, the programming software designed by the late Randy Pausch and his team at Carnegie Mellon University. It uses similar simple graphics to help people learn how to program, but its storytelling capabilities are geared toward younger girls so as to interest them in a field in which their gender is underrepresented (much like the newer Goldie Blocks Engineering Toy for Girls; both seek to entertain the curiosity of younger girls and potentially inspire them to study CS or engineering).

I’m sure Scratch has the same potential–not just to interest girls, but to inspire the next generation of computer programmers. While it’s not very likely that I’ll be one of them, I’m really looking forward to working with it this week (and maybe beyond!)