Choc is a tool for thinking powerful thoughts by stepping through code. It is an implementation of several ideas found in Bret Victor’s Learnable Programming.
Bret Victor’s Learnable Programming was an eye-opener. This tool is the JavaScript execution of that eye-opener
People are alive — they behave and respond. Creations within the computer can also live, behave, and respond… if they are allowed to. The message of this talk is that computer-based art tools should embrace both forms of life — artists behaving through real-time performance, and art behaving through real-time simulation. Everything we draw should be alive by default.
I found parts 2 and 3 of the video to be the most interesting.
Khan Academy recently launched an online environment for learning to program. It offers a set of tutorials based on the JavaScript and Processing languages, and features a “live coding” environment, where the program’s output updates as the programmer types.
Because my work was cited as an inspiration for the Khan system, I felt I should respond: A live-coding Processing environment addresses neither of these goals. JavaScript and Processing are poorly-designed languages that support weak ways of thinking, and ignore decades of learning about learning. And live coding, as a standalone feature, is worthless.
Best read I had in a while. The examples and solutions he gives are once again brilliant!
Finally got around to watching this awesome presentation. If you haven’t already, I suggest you watch it now; and don’t let it lingering around for two months like I did.