Visual Learning Environments for Computer Programming

Almost from the start of computing as an academic discipline, educators have noted that teaching students how to program computers has never been easy. This paper describes four systems Scratch, Alice, Green foot and App inventor as tools to teach programming concepts to students of different ages with no previous computing experience, through creating applications that connect with their interests. This approach encourages self learning, experimentation and sharing, circumventing at the same time, the constraints of traditional programming languages.