[Gsoc] Python export functionality for Turtle Blocks

[Raúl Gutiérrez Segalés]

(re-sending - forgot to hit reply-all)

Hi Marion,

On 30 April 2013 17:13, Marion Zepf <marion.zepf at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Raúl,
>
> My name is Marion.  I am a student applying for the GSoC.  I would like to
> work on a Python export feature for Turtle Blocks.  Here is a brief
> description of my project proposal:
>
> 'Turtle Blocks Python export' lets the user export their programming project
> from the Turtle Blocks activity to a Python script. The generated Python
> code can be run outside of Turtle Blocks, for example from the command line
> or in the Pippy IDE.
> This tool is designed for users who are already proficient Turtle Block
> programmers and want to move on to text-based programming. It helps them
> transfer their knowledge and skills from block-based to text-based
> programming, as they can see their own creations in a new programming
> language. Thus, they can focus on the new language rather than the content
> of the program.
>
> You can find a more detailed description on
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Summer_of_Code/2013/Turtle_Blocks_Python_export
>
> One of the questions I have to answer for my application is, 'If your
> project is successfully completed, what will its impact be on the Sugar Labs
> community?' I am required to include answers from the Sugar Labs community.
> Walter has already given me his, and I would like to ask you for your answer
> to this question.

In my mind, the big take away here is that we'll enable portability of
Turtle Art projects. Being able to translate TA internal
code into external languages (initially Python, eventually Javascript
perhaps, or others) will allow this fundamental learning activity to
reach other platforms and a much broader audience. The question we've
got in front of us is not if Sugar or Turtle Art belong in the Cloud;
it's just how fast can we get there.

This project is a key step towards our goal of getting Sugar/Turtle
Art onto more hands.

In terms of the technical approach you suggest, I agree in principle
but I suspect there might be shortcuts that you might
want to test to get a faster feedback on how this shall look. I.e.:
instead of refactoring TA initially to allow it to run projects
from exported Python you might want to have a way of transforming the
Python code back to TA's internal DSL and run
that (this was actually Walter's idea, which I think should give you a
good start). Anyway, there's many ways to skin this Turtle :-)

Have fun!