The goal of this book is to explain elementary programming concepts such as loops, abstractions, composition, and conditionals to novices of all ages. It teaches the core programming concepts based on simple problems, involving the manipulation of robots or "turtles" as frequently seen in school learning environments. The ideal reader wants to have fun programming. And the reader does not have to be fluent in any programming language before they pick up this book.

The chapters of this book are relatively small. The idea is that each chapter can be turned into a one or two hour lab session. This book creates a path to teach object-oriented programming and promote the encapsulation of data, but most readers will simply appreciate the delightful sequence of fun and easy-to-do exercises with a robot/turtle.

Fun and easy-to-grasp, yet based on solid programming principles of object-oriented programming Visually oriented teaches programming by commanding turtle to move through loops, variables, procedures, and AI Suitable for any reader, from curious children to adults, who'd like a gentle, methodical approach to core programming concepts

Autorentext
Stephane Ducasse obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis and his habilitation at the University of Paris VI. He was recipient of the SNF 2002 Professeur Boursier Award. He is now a professor at the Universit de Savoie. Ducasse has written several books in French and English. Ducasse's fields of interests include reflective systems design, object-oriented language design, software component composition, application implementation and design, and object-oriented application reengineering. He is the main developer of the Moose reengineering environment. Ducasse also loves programming in Smalltalk and serves as president of the European Smalltalk User Group. He is committed to the Squeak community.

Inhalt
Getting Started.- Installation and Creating a Robot.- A First Script and Its Implications.- Of Robots and Men.- Directions and Angles.- Pica's Environment.- Fun with Robots.- Elementary Programming Concepts.- Looping.- Variables.- Digging Deeper into Variables.- Loops and Variables.- Composing Messages.- Bringing Abstraction into Play.- Methods: Named Message Sequences.- Combining Methods.- Parameters and Arguments.- Errors and Debugging.- Decomposing to Recompose.- Strings, and Tools for Understanding Programs.- Conditionals.- Conditions.- Conditional Loops.- Boolean and Boolean Expressions.- Coordinates, Points, and Absolute Moves.- Advanced Robot Behavior.- Simulating Animal Behavior.- Other Squeak Worlds.- A Tour of eToy.- A Tour of Alice.