programming-for-dummies

Teaching Languages 61
Book I
Chapter 3
Types of
Programming
Languages
Figure 3-3:
An Alice
program
creates an
animated
character
on-screen
and moves it
around.
Lego Mindstorms
Kids love building things with Lego building bricks, so to encourage kids to
build actual working robots, Lego has released their Lego robot-building kit,
Mindstorms NXT. Not only can you build a working robot with Lego bricks, but
you can also program it using the Lego NXT-G programming language.
To write a program in NXT-G, you don’t have to type a thing. Instead, you
create a program by arranging icons that represent different type of actions
your robot can do, such as move forward or respond to a light. After
writing your program on your computer, you load that program into your
Lego robot and watch it go.
By using Lego Mindstorms NXT, anyone can figure out both programming
skills and robot-making skills. Unlike KPL, Logo, or Alice, Lego Mindstorms
NXT lets you see your working program in action as a walking, rolling, or
crawling Lego robot.
Programming a killer robot
Studying how to program by controlling a Lego robot can be fun, but to combine
the thrill of controlling a robot with the joy of playing a video game,
computer scientists have also created games that let you write a simple
program for controlling a battling robot, as shown in Figure 3-4.