Tiled Grace
Tiled Grace is a drag-and-drop combined visual and textual editor for Grace using the Minigrace compiler as a backend. The visual editor is similar to Scratch, but the user can switch to editable textual code by pressing a button, and switch back at will later on.
Tiled Grace can be used online and its source code is available.
Related Publications
A Tile-based Editor for a Textual Programming Language. Michael Homer, James Noble. In VISSOFT, 2013. (bibtex, author copy)
“Jigsaw puzzle” programming environments manipulate programs primarily by drag-and-drop. Generally these environments are based on their own special-purpose languages, meaning students must move on to another language as their programs grow. Tiled Grace is a tile-based editor for Grace, an educational programming language with a conventional textual syntax. Using Tiled Grace, programmers can move seamlessly between visualising their programs as tiles or source code, editing their programs via tiles or text, and continuing on to traditional textual environments, all within the same programming language.
Combining Tiled and Textual Views of Code. Michael Homer, James Noble. In VISSOFT, 2014. (bibtex, author copy)
“Jigsaw puzzle” programming environments manipulate programs primarily by drag-and-drop. Generally these environments are based on their own special-purpose languages, meaning students must move on to another language as their programs grow. Tiled Grace is a tile-based editor for Grace, an educational programming language with a conventional textual syntax. Using Tiled Grace, programmers can move seamlessly between visualising their programs as tiles or source code, editing their programs via tiles or text, and continue on to traditional textual environments, all within the same programming language. We conducted a user experiment with Tiled Grace, and present the results of that experiment showing that users find dual views helpful.
Co-located Collaborative Block-Based Programming. Ben Selwyn-Smith, Craig Anslow, Michael Homer, James R. Wallace. In VL/HCC, 2019. (bibtex, author copy)
With the increasing need to teach programming to novices using collaborative methods like pair programming, it is important to understand how different input devices can help support collaborative learning. In this paper we present Multi-Device Grace, the first application to explore block-based programming in a cross-device environment consisting of digital tabletops, mobile tablets, and laptops. We conducted a user study (n = 18) to explore how cross-device environments can support co-located collaborative block-based programming. The study used Tiled Grace, an existing block-based programming language, and our extensions: Tabletop Grace (designed for tabletops) and Mobile Grace (designed for tablets). Our results show that the majority of participants felt they were able to collaborate quickly and easily, and the cross device interaction would be particularly beneficial in an education setting.
Towards collaborative block-based programming on digital tabletops. Ben Selwyn-Smith, Michael Homer, Craig Anslow. In B&B, 2017. (bibtex, author copy)
Block-based programming environments are typically designed for desktop machines or mobile devices. Desktops and mobiles are generally designed for single users to interact with, which makes it hard for multiple users to collaborate effectively. In this paper we explore the possibilities of digital multi-touch tabletops to foster collaborative programming in a block-based paradigm. We note both the different challenges afforded in this new interaction model and the potential benefits unique to collaborative programming with tabletops.
Lessons in Combining Block-Based and Textual Programming. Michael Homer, James Noble. In VLSS, Volume 3, 2017. (bibtex, author copy)
Tiled Grace is a block-based programming system backed by a conventional textual language that allows switching back and forth between block-based and textual editing of the same code at any time. We discuss the design choices of Tiled Grace in light of existing research and a user experiment conducted with it. We also examine the sorts of task preferred in each mode by users who had the choice of editing either as blocks or as text, and find both positive and cautionary notes for block-based programming in the results.