Make the Leap from Block-based to Text-based Coding with this New Code Editor from Raspberry Pi
Looking to level up your coding skills?
Coding is an essential skill in today’s digital world, but switching from block-based coding (such as Scratch) to text-based can be a challenge, especially for beginner programmers. In an effort to support young people (and everyone else!) as they make that transition, the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched a new text-based Code Editor that teaches those key skills in a fun and engaging way.
Supported by Endless and the Algorand Foundation, the Code Editor minimizes barriers to coding in several key ways. It’s free and doesn’t require any special tools or setup, perfect for kids in afterschool clubs and learning at home. The interface is simple and intuitive, making it easy for young people to start building new skills in Python, one of the basic text-based coding languages (that is also widely used by professionals). The Raspberry Pi Foundation is also planning to expand features such as project sharing and collaboration, which will meet safeguarding policies to keep kids protected.
The Code Editor Interface. Photo: Raspberry Pi Foundation
The Code Editor was developed with three main aims in mind:
Supporting young people’s learning journeys. The Code Editor is built to engage beginners and support them as their confidence and independence grow, scaffolding key skills backed by best practices in computing education.
Removing access barriers to computing education. With the digital divide still affecting millions of students, the Code Editor was built with access in mind, working well on mobile and tablet devices, low-cost computers, and with localisation and translation capabilities.
Making learning to program engaging for more young people. With capacity to support graphics and to supply images and sprites for multimedia projects, the Code Editor engages kids in a myriad of creative ways.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is inviting people to test the Code Editor as part of a “beta phase” of development to provide feedback around the experience (sign up to be a tester here!). In the future, they’re planning on making the Editor available as an open-source project so that other projects and organizations focused on helping people learn to code can benefit as well.
If you’ve ever thought about learning to code, now is a great time to check out the Code Editor!