[IAEP] Google demos Scratch-based Android development tool for students

[Kevin Cole]

http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/fgfvtXF_2a8/google-demos-codeless-android-development-tool-for-students.ars
Google has announced a new browser-based visual development tool called App
Inventor that allows users to create Android applications without having to
write any code. It appears to be aimed primarily at students. App Inventor
enables user interface design with a simple drag-and-drop layout system. The
behavior of the user interface elements can be programmed via a visual
development system that the user manipulates by organizing blocks with
specific programming characteristics into various structures. The blocks can
be dragged around and snapped into each other to form relatively
sophisticated programs. This aspect of App Inventor is based on Scratch, an
MIT visual programming language. The compiler that translates the blocks
into Android bytecode is built on top of the GNU Kawa framework, which
provides a Scheme-based intermediate language. It's worth noting that Kawa
can also be used standalone to build entire Android applications with
Scheme. We were not able to test App Inventor ourselves because it is still
in closed beta and is not broadly available to the general public yet. If
you want to try it yourself, you will have to register on the Google Labs
website and wait for approval. For more details, see the official
introduction and demo video. Read the comments on this post
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