Phrogram
Kids Programming Language (KPL) v.2
Phrogram Beginnings
• Creator: Jonah Stagner
– Wanted a language to teach his kids to
program, but didn’t think the available
languages were kid-friendly enough.
• KPL v.1 released in 2005
• Built on .NET framework
Important Qualities of a
Language for Kids
Short learning curve to get started
Very readable and writeable syntax
A good IDE
Easy way of creating graphics and
using them for games
Great books for continued learning
and reference
Getting Started with
Phrogram
• Comes with a Tutorial
– Gets right into drawing and graphics
• Example programs
– Find out how to do things in Phrogram
Phrogram Books
• Learn to Program with Phrogram!
– 109 page tutorial on the very basics of
Phrogram
• Three other books are in the works
(Definitely lacking in this area so far)
Readable/Writeable
Syntax
• Case Insensitive
– (improves read/writeability)
• No semicolon at the end of a
statement
– (slightly more writeable)
IDE
• Similar to Microsoft Visual Studio
– Intelli-sense
– Debugger
Primitive Types
•
•
•
•
Integer – 32 bit Whole number
Decimal – 28 digits of precision
Boolean – True or False
String – String of characters. Use +
operator to concatenate strings
Declaring Variables
• Define <variable name> As <type>
• Define I As Integer
• Define I As Integer = 4
• Define myString As String = “Hello”
Method
• Has no return value
Method SayHello(Name As String)
Print(“Hello ” + Name)
End Method
SayHello(“Mike”)
Function
• Has a return value
Function GetPerimeter(Width As Decimal, Height As Decimal) As Decimal
Return (2 * Width) + (2 * Height)
End Function
Define myPerimeter As Decimal
myPerimeter = GetPerimeter(2.2, 9.1)
Complex Data Types
• Single and Multi-Dimensional Arrays
• Structures and Classes
– Structures only allow variables
– Classes allow variables as well as
Methods and Functions
– NO INHERITANCE
Classes
Class Rectangle
Width As Decimal
Height As Decimal
Function GetArea() As Decimal
Return Width * Height
End Function
End Class
Graphics
Joystick Input
• Define myJoystick As Joystick
• Member variables & Functions that can be
accessed from the Joystick object:
–
–
–
–
–
–
IsConnected
Stick1.X
Stick1.Y
Stick2.X
Stick2.Y
IsButtonPressed(number As Integer) As Boolean
Joystick Input
Does Phrogram Measure up?
Short learning curve to get started
Very readable and writeable syntax
A good IDE
Easy way of creating graphics and
using them for games
 Great books for continued learning
Not Yet!
and reference




Resources
• http://kidsprogramminglanguage.com
• http://phrogram.com/
• Schwartz, Jon, Learn to Program with
Phrogram™!: A Guide to Learning Through Game
Programming Using the Latest Version of Kids
Programming Language, Addison Wesley, 2007.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_Programming
_Language
Questions?