I was just reviewing a list of recent members to the site and noticed something good and not so good. The good thing is that people seem to be joining the site in greater numbers ... and adding more new faces is always nice!

The not-so-good thing is that very few of our newer members actually write (or respond to) a post. The reason that is a problem is that eventually, you just kind of forget you joined, or your password, or both ... and the rest of us never get to learn about your interests and your talents.

So I am  starting this thread to ask new members (and you  know who you are!) just to reply, to say hello, maybe add why they are interested in Phrogram, and where they heard about it. Or write your own post if you prefer - it's really very easy.

So newer members ... please, fire away!

DavidW, for the Phrogram Team 

Okay, I'll kick it off,

Hi, I'm Randy from Columbia, Maryland.  I stumbled across KPL about two years ago when a colleague mentioned it to me.  This year, my 12 year old son expressed an interest in learning how to program so I looked up KPL and found Phrogram.  It's made teaching him programming easier and fun.

I must say its a great introduction not only to programming but also to using an IDE.  It's been amazing to see how the evolution of development tools has changed and shaped the practice of software development.  Tools like Phrogram will help our children tremendously. 

I would like to throw one task on your to-do list.  Phrogram needs to handle multiple files (i.e., some form of packaging).  Having classes is a great step from top down programming to OO, but (IMHO) the concept of reuse is not very powerful when everything must be contained in the same file. (Mod Note: Discussion on this feature moved to feture request forum http://phrogram.com/forums/thread/6929.aspx)

Thanks, and thanks for a great tool,

randyA
 

Thanks for the highly positive feedback, Randy - as well as the task!  (mod edit: dicussion of task moved to feature request forum http://phrogram.com/forums/thread/6929.aspx) 

Hello! I'm Chris and I looked at Phrogram as an easy way to introduce coding for educational purposes. I'm a physicist and mathematician and earn a crust providing mathematical and physical modelling services. Over the last 5 years I've started doing more outreach type activities to promote maths (all aspects - for physical to financial), science and engineering. Phrogram struck me as a great way to look at problems dynamically in 2 and 3 dimensions and in addition to bring in some programming in a way that has been lacking in computing since the 80's and the glorious days of the 8-bit home micro!

 
In terms of a TODO list I'd like to add full support for "geometry coordinates" rather than screen coordinates as these can cause confusion for educational applications. I tried an example using the SetAlgebracoordinates() command with the result that sprites didn't show! Having to use statements such as "Sprite1.MoveTo(x,ScreenHeight-y)" makes things a little less obvious to the novice and student trying to approach a physical problem.

 Chris

Added bug/feature to request forum  http://phrogram.com/forums/thread/6937.aspx - Chris can you clarify some things in tht thread for me.