Boku: Programming is Child's Play

It has recently been announced that the new Microsoft software, Boku for the Xbox 360 will be released within the next 12 months.

For those of you who don't know about this project; at the 2007 tech fair Microsoft presented "Boku: lightweight programming for kids". The general idea behind this educational game is not to teach children a programming language per se, but rather to introduce them to the general concepts of software creation.

Boku is the name of the central character, a cartoon robot head that hovers over a grassy field. The system will use as little text as possible to allow youngsters to understand the system intuitively without getting bogged down with detail.

Instead, users will string together cards with different emblems on them, each allowing Boku to perform a different action. The system will incorporate behavious, generality, abstract states, sensors, physics and messaging without users even knowing it. All wrapped up with real time experimentation and feedback.

The general concept seems a lot like the LOGO system of old with a bit of Phrogram thrown in for good measure. However, unlike these other systems, and simple languages like BASIC, the real hook with Boku is the integration into a gaming platform. The possibility of great graphics and a "game like" feel would have definately interested me when I was younger. Instead I had to cope with the pressure of a blank screen and a blinking cursor.

The future plans for Boku include giving the system a secondlife feel and Facebook type interactions, allowing the developers of tomorrow to share programs and discuss ideas.