Talk:Turtle Art
Saving Files in TurtleArt (from dawn sumner) TurtleArt does not save files properly when using the "Keep" button, a known problem. I have been playing with ways to save projects in TurtleArt and here is a way that I think is fairly reliable:
1. Open TurtleArt
2. Change the name of the activity in the upper left.
3. Program your turtle
4. Close the activity using the octagon with an X in the upper right.
5. Reopen the project using the Journal. It should be listed with the name you chose in step 2.
6. Edit the program and exit using the X-octagon.
Please note: If you click on the "Keep" button, your changes seem not to be saved, even in the Journal entry with the same name. Thus, in TurtleArt, I recommend never hitting the "Keep" button until the next version of TurtleArt, which will hopefully work the same way many of the other Activities do.
Is this the place to post questions? I'm on my XO now and having fun with Turtle Art.
- Where do my new files get saved when I push the "keep" button? Can I access them from the projects tab?
- I accidentally deleted the activity with my file from Journal but I still see the data files. Why can't I resume from the data file?
Thanks! Jennifer 14:36, 25 December 2007 (EST)
Any reason why the link isn't to the version in the OLPC git tree? [1] --Walter 21:48, 19 June 2007 (EDT)
- The git tree itself is for development, not for stable .xo snapshots; I don't know the original location for .xo's used in the build process, so I used my own; but we need direct links to .xo bundles from the wiki in addition to the git tree for the latest code. Sj talk 23:03, 19 June 2007 (EDT)
User feedback
Turtle Art was popular among adults at a (MIT) bbq 2007-08-19. Some observations:
- In a demo setting, without much time to explore, people were puzzled how to begin. The Blocks pulldown was too low profile. Perhaps the program might start with it already pulled down?
- Combinations of arc with f/b/l/r made nice shapes and were popular.
- Everyone's first inclination was to click on the components, rather than dragging them. Which currently creates the component underneath the pulldown, with just the numbers visibly sticking out the side. So next they tried to grab the numbers, thus pulling them off the component. It was messy. I suggest clicked components be dropped clear of the pulldown rather than underneath it.
- When connecting components, positioning them was troublesome. They were often 'almost but not quite' connected. Which sometimes created "so why isnt it working?". Having a snap region might make connecting easier and simpler.
- There was some uncertainty over how to reset the turtle. Especially when it had been walked out of sight off the screen.
MitchellNCharity 01:06, 19 August 2007 (EDT)
- This was the first application that my kid really got into on the xo - he pretty much figured it out on his own. One question though - how do we delete blocks? Kriek 13:07, 30 December 2007 (EST)
Where can we get an explanation of what all of the buttons mean? It is hard to figure out how to make this work with no instructions, could someone please put up instructions on how this works? Thanks
No parameters, no lists: not Logo
A turtle doth not a Logo make. Most of the coolness of Logo is in the ease of recursive expression borrowed from Lisp. The lack of recursion is not even treated as a bug but as an enhancement. --IanOsgood 19:01, 12 November 2007 (EST)
- Actually, procedures and recursion are supported, but without parameters. All you currently have are global variables. This could be remedied in a couple of ways:
- Have some other stack heads/invokers that take parameters. Not sure how you could generalize this to arbitrary numbers of parameters; maybe a "parameter chain" block?
- Go the Forth route: add a separate parameter stack (as in data structure stack). There is prior art by Wouter van Oortmerssen in stack-based visual programming language design.
- --IanOsgood 17:28, 14 November 2007 (EST)