Alice (software)

Infobox Software
name = Alice


caption = Basic animation of an ice skater
author = Carnegie Mellon University
released = 1999
latest release version = 2.0
latest release date = April 5, 2005
programming language = Java
genre = Educational
license = Original BSD
website = http://www.alice.org

Alice is a free and open source [Alice uses an attribution required version of the BSD license [http://www.alice.org/downloads/license.html] ] object-oriented educational programming language with an integrated development environment (IDE). It is developed over Java. Alice uses a drag and drop environment to create computer animations using 3D models. The software is developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, including Randy Pausch. Alice was developed to address three core problems in educational programming: [ [http://www.alice.org/whatIsAlice.htm What is Alice? ] ]
# Most programming languages are designed to be usable for "production code" thus introducing additional complexity. Alice is designed solely to teach programming.
# Alice is conjoined with its IDE. There is no syntax to remember. However, it supports the full object-oriented, event driven model of programming.
# Alice is designed to appeal to specific subpopulations not normally exposed to computer programming, such as middle school students, by encouraging storytelling through a simple drag-and-drop interface.

In controlled studies at Ithaca College and Saint Joseph's University looking at students with no prior programming experience taking their first computer science course, the average grade went from a C to a B and the retention increased from 47% to 88%. [ M. Moskal, D. Lurie, and S. Cooper, Evaluating the Effectiveness of a New Instructional Approach. In Proceedings of 2004 SIGCSE Conference, (Norfolk, VA). ]

Alice 3.0 is being underwritten by Electronic Arts and will utilize character models from The Sims 2. [ [http://www.alice.org/simsannounce.html Alice Press Release - 03/10/06 ] ] . In fall 2008, there was an alpha test, which is to be followed by the beta test in spring 2009 [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXOyd68saIM A Preview of Alice 3.0] ] .

The current release of Alice, version 2.0, runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms.

ee also

* Educational programming language
* Visual programming language
* Very high-level programming language
* Logo
* ToonTalk
* AgentSheets
* Scratch
* Squeak

References

* Learning to Program with Alice, Wanda P. Dann, Stephen Cooper, Randy Pausch: ISBN 0-13-187289-3
* An Introduction to Programming Using Alice, Charles W. Herbert ISBN 1-4188-3625-7
* Alice 2.0: Introductory Concepts and Techniques; Gary B. Shelly, Thomas J. Cashman, Charles W. Herbert ISBN 1-4188-5934-6
* Starting Out with Alice: A Visual Introduction to Programming; Tony Gaddis; Pearson Addison Wesley, 2007; ISBN-13: 9780321475152

External links

* [http://www.alice.org/ Alice homepage]
* [http://www.alice.org/default_old.htm old version of Alice (Alice 99)]
* [http://www.kidslike.info/alice_programming_language_educational Nontechnical encyclopedia article about Alice on kids like . info]
* [http://www.kidslike.info/programming_alice_lesson_1_alien_robot_teaches_kid_robot_trick Basic tutorial for Alice]
* [http://www.sju.edu/~scooper/alice/alice.html Stephen Cooper's research]