Future Computing: Educating Young Developers with Java and Greenfoot

The future of computing will be determined by the developers of the future — those who are currently passing through the school system. The tools available to learn programming have moved on since the days of BASIC on early home computers, and now include engaging graphical environments for making games and simulations. I work as a developer of Greenfoot, one such programming system which is based on Java. In this talk I will demonstrate Greenfoot, and explain how its design is intended to support learning programming in Java. Key aspects of educational environments include engagement, a low barrier to entry, and an interface that encourages accurate mental models of object-oriented concepts. I will show how Greenfoot supports these three aims, and show some of the more advanced features that are possible by using the flexibility of the Java language and ecosystem.

Author:
Neil Brown
Neil Brown works as a Research Fellow in the Computing Education Research Group at the University of Kent, in the UK. Inbetween completing his BSc and PhD (both in Computer Science), he worked in industry for several years as a machine learning researcher. His research interests are focused around tools for programming education. He performs development and outreach for Greenfoot and BlueJ: programming environments which are specifically designed for beginners, in order to support their learning.