Blockly is the block code editor used in App Inventor. Blockly provides a way to write programs by arranging blocks of code, rather than writing out traditional “source code” text programs.

This approach is helpful for new programmers who can focus on the programming – and not the details of the structure of the programming language (of which there are many in programming languages like Java, C/C++, and C#).

Continue reading Blockly – the code editor that drives App Inventor →

MIT App Inventor – now available with Chinese or Spanish Interface – More Languages to Come | Explore MIT App Inventor.

Click the link, above, to learn how to select your desired language for the App Inventor interface.

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Separately, Part 1 of my App Inventor Bluetooth tutorial may be published on Friday. Because the tutorial covers a lot, the tutorial will be split into a least two separate blog posts.

I also now have Bluetooth electronic parts to support Bluetooth connection on on my Arduino boards. I intend to use those parts to set up a wireless link between my Android phone and the Arduino – which opens up interesting possibilities such as using the Android phone to remote control an Arduino project.

Arduino is a low cost, simple to program microcontroller board. A microcontroller is a very small computer on a single chip. The Arduino board has a number of input and output pins that can be used to control lights, motors and other devices, and can process incoming electrical signals. For example, the Arduino has an on board Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) that converts input voltages of 0 to 5 volts to a number. I used the ADC feature in a project to measure voltage and current consumed by a particular smart phone, for evaluating the impact that algorithm choice has on battery power consumed and the life of the battery. (An “algorithm” is what we call a set of instructions to perform a certain task. For example, a sorting algorithm is a set of rules to sort values into ascending or descending order.)

With a wireless link between the Arduino and the Android phone, we can have sensors (like temperature, or light intensity) that are measured by the Arduino board, and then send those values to an app running on the Android phone. The phone could then, perhaps, process the external sensor data or collect it and send it on to the Internet.

The total number of MIT App Inventor registered users has reached 2.7 million.

My guess is the number went up, in part, due to the “Hour of Code” project in December, which provided young students with very brief introductions to many types of programming.

I just noticed the updated statistics at the appinventor.mit.edu web site:

• Weekly Active Users: 102K
• Total Registered Users: 2.5M
• Countries: 195
• Apps Built: 6.8M