V-Toys: An Experiment in Adding Visual Tiles to EToys

Usability issues in programming languages and associated environments are the topic of multiple studies, which led to the creation of many innovating programming systems where the user is the center of the design process, allowing non-programmers to create programs without understanding the underlaying concepts. In this paper, we describe the V-Toys system which add visual programming to the EToys scripting system of Squeak. This framework is intended to children that have problems with text and reading. As a side effect, the fact that visual stuff eliminate the barrier of different language, enable V-Toys to be used as an international programming language since there is no need for translations to be able to understand it and use it. Built as an extension of EToys it is compatible with all the Squeak environment and can be mixed with stuff either programmed using Smalltalk or EToys.