The LOGO Programming Language

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History | Significant Language Features | Areas of Application | Sample Programs
Related Links | Printed References

History

Logo was developed by a team from MIT, Logo was originally designed to introduce children to programming concepts, to develop better thinking skills that could be transferred to other contexts. Logo was supposed to be a language for the teaching of mathe matical ideas to children through computer programming. It was intended to be easy to learn, easy to use, easy to read, but also powerful and able to cope with complex problems. It was then discovered that Logo extended far beyond mathematical areas The man who became the spoke person for this language was Seymour Papert. The slogan used for Logo was "A language for learning." There is a double meaning behind this slogan. First Logo is a language for learning to compute, or "program a computer" (Logo Thinking). Second Logo is a language to make computing as simple as po ssible to understand for the user (Learning with Logo)

First Logo means Logo Thinking - Logo helps the user in learning to compute by describing ideas and processes with Logo programs, and understanding how to translate pseudocode, into a working Logo program.

Logos share a great deal with natural language in its construction and how it is learned. Not a natural language itself, Logo's similarities with natural languages are the reason it has been an instrument for learning and teaching. Some s imilarities between Logo and natural languages are:

A. Children learn language in an orderly, step-by-step fashion. - They learn word concepts, and how to combine words into simple sentences, This help the children in using language productively.

B. Logo and language can be taught in small increments, beginning with concrete and graphic things, and can progress to words and more abstract concepts.

Second Logo also means Learning with Logo - Designed to learn and understand the power of computing for making abstract ideas more concrete and more modifiable. Logo is a language of Words. Logo and natural languages words have meanings. Logo means "word", "idea". Words in Logo are used as names for procedures and for data, in properties & relationships.

Significant Language Features

Extensible - . Logo comes with basic operations called "primitives". Words that you define, act & look just like primitives.
Working Definitions - A logo procedure gives the definition of some new word or concept. It is also a definition that works or computes.
Definitions Have an Inside and an Outside - Outside, or title line, tells the user what the word does. The inside defines how it is done.

Areas of Application

Graphics (Turtle Graphics)
Use with Language
Making Music

Sample Programs

Hello world!

Printed References

Friendly, MichaelAdvanced LogoLawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.
Martin, Allan. Teaching and Learning with Logo Teachers College Press, New York, New York.
Sebesta, Robert T. (1996). Concepts of Programming Languages . Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. Menlo Park, CA.

Last modified by Steven Kiryakoza, 12/12/97

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