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Google’s new project, Coding with Chrome, aims to provide multiple platform education for everyone from beginner to the advanced designer.
“Coding with Chrome is an experimental Google project to provide a programming platform within the Chrome browser that even works offline. Currently, students are able to create programs in Blockly, Coffeescript, HTML, Javascript with output to Logo Turtle and/or connected toys such as the Sphero and Lego® Mindstorms®.” – Chrome Web Store
The Coding with Chrome Team over at Google have created what they call an experimental project that allows users to learn coding in a Chrome based environment with real-time output in the IDE. While this is not a new concept, Google has taken it to a new level as they so often do with their open source projects.
I had a chance to do some hands on with the IDE this week and was very impressed with the overall user experience. The interface is rich, clean and very user friendly. The app, which seems to be geared toward the education market, still offers much more than just the basic introduction to coding. For beginners, Coding with Chrome offers Blockly which allows users to drag and drop code blocks to build code and see real-time output of results. This will be very familiar to what most educators are currently using in their classrooms already. The IDE also offers support for coding with Robots, using Lego® Mindstorms® EV3 robots or Sphero.
For the more advanced user, Coding with Chrome offers a good variety of the most utilized languages including Javascript, HTML, CSS and more.
One of the most interesting features, in my opinion, is the fact that the Coding with Chrome is fully functional offline. I like this for two reasons. The obvious is the fact that it makes this app not only a very useful tool but also a versatile option for families on the go who want to give their kids educational options that’s also entertaining. With no need for an internet connection the little ones can learn to code in the car, on the family vacation or just in the comfort of the living room. Secondly, this is just another example of the power of Chrome OS. Its capability continues to grow outside of the box of cloud based computing and that’s great news for all things Chrome.
In addition, this is an open source project and is open to the community to share and suggest. Check it out and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear your from you.
Here’s a short video from the Coding with Chrome Team that shows you some of the basics of this great project.
For more detailed information head click the link below and head over to Coding with Chrome.
