Girlie Girls Can Code Too!

No matter if we’re in 7-inch stilettos or fresh-out-of-the-box Jordans, girls can do anything boys can do, just better. And that is exactly the thought process behind a just released iPad app, coined Hopscotch, designed to make writing code easier, no matter what gene pool you come from.

Released in the beta version earlier this week on Tuesday, April 16, according to a recent article, “Hopscotch is an object-oriented programming language that is purposely bright, colorful and welcoming to kids between ages 8 and 12. Rather than making young people wade through incomprehensible strings of words and numbers, writing code in Hopscotch consists of dragging and dropping different objects and running scripts on them. The objects are cutesy animal characters, and scripts can be selected from drop-down menus. The result is that kids can make short animations and games.”

So, now you may be wondering why the application was released on the iPad as opposed to all iOS and Android devices. Because I’m a worldly woman, I have an answer for you: iPads are typically leveraged as a go-to tool by a majority of those in the education space, since products are much more cost-effective than most laptops or PCs out there are currently.

In a client testimonial found on the official Hopscotch site, Michael, father of Erin, age 12, stated, “My daughter always thought computer programming was for boys, but she could not put down Hopscotch, and said building a game seemed fun to her too.”

After reading this, as well as several other glowing reviews, I simply had to try out the application for myself. After downloading it for free from iTunes, I quickly realized that creating a program could really be done as quickly as counting to three. A possible negative, though, could be that there are too many options to choose from, yet the experience was definitely a fun one overall.

At this time, there’s another iPad app from Hopscotch Technologies available through the Web – Daisy the Dinosaur. This app is also touted as powering a user-friendly computer programming solution that teaches users how to complete certain code-related steps by overcoming challenges within the app.

Here’s what someone who has used the app is reporting: “I think the concept is good, but it needs to be expanded in order for it to be great. “

To find out more about Daisy the Dinosaur, click here.