
Use Scratch to Easily Program Household Appliances - shawndumas
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/rutgers_university_project_uses_scratch_to_make_ho.php
======
jrockway
Looking at the example screenshot makes me realize that the hard part of
programming is not the syntax, the hard part is breaking a "simple" task down
into steps. Even with a GUI, loops and if/then are not immediately intuitive
and will require training, and by the time you've taught someone to think like
a programmer, the syntax won't matter anymore.

(One counter-example is AppleScript. That lets you perform the action, and
then _it_ makes the script for you. You can then tweak and see what happens,
which lets you experiment and learn. Tweaking is easier than starting from
nothing.)

~~~
wiredfool
The hard part doing this is not the programming side, it's the physical
interface side, and doing it in a useful and cost effective manner.

I'd love to have whole house lighting control, but at $20/node, it's not going
to happen. I'd love to have some sort of datalogging and computer control of
my 6 thermostats and the wood stove. My research was showing something like
$100/node for the thermostats, and less than that for the thermocouples for
the stove, but then I'd need a datalogger for them. I'd love to have killawatt
meters in all my sockets, with wireless reporting. Etc Etc Etc.

Their system is a usb->xbee, and then xbee->arduino on the other end. That's
like $100 of control systems, and you still don't actually have interfaces to
anything, you have a low power board that needs a driver to even drive a
reasonable relay. (but, there are easy driver circuits for that, even $20
pigtails with embedded relays)

------
magicseth
Scratch is starting to take off. It is a pretty powerful paradigm not just
because of its visual nature, but also because of the ease with witch you can
"play" with your code, and see, in real time, the results. Here is an example
used for design: <http://designblocks.net/> .

Taking the fear out of programming, making it tinkerable, is hugely valuable.
Not to mention the emphasis on creation and story telling that it is designed
for. Breaking it out into the real world is a wonderful way to make the
computer more than just software.

~~~
wiredfool
Scratch seems to be a good starting place for programming. I started my 6yr
old on it over christmas, and he was making som progress making the onscreen
stuff do what he wanted. It was great to see the light go on that he could
make the computer do what he wanted it to do.

(now, to get his ui better than click, and hit the keys z x c v in order)

------
wslh
A spreadsheet is easier to use than Scratch...

