On Mon, Feb 12, 2007 at 09:42:19AM +0900, Morton Goldberg wrote:
> I also think Ruby with turtle graphics added would be good way to  
> start. We recently did a Ruby Quiz where the problem was to add  
> turtle graphics to Ruby. I've found that with this add-on it's easy  
> to translate Logo code into Ruby. If you would like to try it, I'll  
> send you the complete Ruby turtle graphics kit with a bunch of Logo  
> programs I've translated into Ruby (direct to your e-mail address --  
> its too much to post here).

How about sticking it up on rubyforge?

I asked exactly the same question a couple of years ago,
http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/138245

A reply pointed to
http://onestepback.org/packages/rubyturtles/

but I've not tried it.

The advantages I can see in teaching Ruby are that it's a language you can
do real work in; it's easy to install; and it's sufficiently "normal" that
normal people don't have to work hard to read your code (unlike, say, LISP)

At least the basic syntax is clean. I know there are skeletons lying in the
cupboard for the more advanced Rubyist to trip over, but by that stage
they're probably hooked anyway :-)

Cheers,

Brian.