Turtle Graphics implementation using a graphical dataflow programming approach

Abstract

This thesis expands the concepts of object-oriented programming to implement a visual dataflow programming language. The main thrust of this research is to develop a functional prototype language, based upon the Turtle Graphics tool provided by LOGO programming language, for children to develop both their problem solving skills as well as their general programming skills. The language developed for this thesis was implemented in the object-oriented, dataflow programming language Prograph. The dataflow paradigm was emulated in order to provide a more intuitive, easy to learn programming environment for children to use. Additionally, Prograph was chosen because it provides the necessary base classes to easily implement an interactive user interface and it provides the necessary primitive operations for all graphics drawing routines. This thesis demonstrates a prototype for a potential visual programming language that can be used at all levels of education to teach problem solving, higher­ order thinking skills, mathematical concepts, and the fundamentals of computer science.