

Did President Obama Infringe on 1995 Microsoft Patent for Teaching Kids to Code? - theodpHN
http://slashdot.org/submission/4073315/did-president-obama-infringe-on-1995-microsoft-patent-for-teaching-kids-to-code

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dalke
Is this one of those artificial outrage things?

The patent says that one of the requirements for the patent is:

> (d) mode selection means for enabling the user to select a mode from among a
> plurality of different modes, one of said plurality of different modes
> displaying at least a portion of a textual computer program listing
> corresponding to a portion of the graphical program, a plain text mode
> enabling the user to enter text that is translated to program commands in
> the textual computer program listing for modifying the graphical program,
> said textual computer program listing assisting the user to learn computer
> programming by exposing the user to the program commands of the text-based
> programming language that correspond to the graphic program steps of the
> graphical program.

and in further detail:

> The plurality of modes selectable by the user include a plain text mode
> enabling the user to enter text that is translated to corresponding commands
> in the text-based programming language for modifying the graphical program.
> The plain text entered by the user is constrained to text that correctly
> translates to the commands in the text-based programming language.
> Preferably, the plain text that can be entered by the user is limited to a
> predefined set of programming language constructs that are presented to the
> user as keys on a graphical keyboard displayed on the display screen, for
> selection and use in designing and modifying the graphical program.

I don't see this sort of plain text entry option in Blockly.

