Karen Vitek's List: Computer Programming

"The USACO supports computing education in the USA and worldwide by identifying, motivating, and training high-school computing students at all levels. We provide:

Hundreds of hours of free on-line training resources that students can use to improve their programming and computational problem-solving skills.
On-line programming contests (roughly six per year) for students at all levels.
An intensive summer training camp, to which the top students in the USA are invited to further improve their skills and learn advanced material.
The opportunity for the top four students in the USA to represent their country at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), the most prestigious international algorithmic programming competition at the high-school level. "

"EngageCSEdu is a dynamic collection of high-quality, open course materials for introductory computer science (CS) courses. Materials were contributed by faculty from across the country. Developed by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and Google, the goal is to establish a more diverse computing workforce by retaining women and other underrepresented groups in undergraduate CS education. Many things influence retention in CS, but having a great experience in introductory courses is key."

" Find lessons, tutorials, and activities for K-12 computer science education "

"He (along with Branger_Briz) is also the inventor of the _playGnd animation tool which lets users create 3D animations in their browser. In the video above Briz gives a tutorial on how to get started with this tool, which you can read more about below. After you've had a watch and a read, head on over to _playGnd and then please submit your own sketches to us by email and we'll showcase the best on the blog."

"We are living in a digital era where gadgets from computers, smartphones to tablets have become an essential part of our lives. Even kids these days pick up an iPad as and figure out apps like how a fish takes to water. With kids becoming more tech-savvy as time goes on, there’s no reason why they can’t learn the basics behind their favorite technology. That’s right, we’re saying that there’s no reason why you can’t teach your kids programming from a young age."

"Etoys is . . .

an educational tool for teaching children powerful ideas in compelling ways
a media-rich authoring environment and visual programming system
a free software program that works on almost all personal computers"

"Waterbear is a toolkit for making programming more accessible and fun. Having a visual language means you don't have to focus on learning a syntax to start programming."

" RoboMind is software specifically developed to support technology education. By programming a robot, students learn about logic, computer science and robotics. The beauty of RoboMind is the compactness of the learning environment. It directly connects logical thinking to solving challenges encountered in daily life and industry. RoboMind is used all over the world. But don’t take our word for it and try it out yourself for free!"

"Code can be the most creative tool in your toolbox. Suspend your disbelief and let's get cracking."

Google's project to encourage more girls to join STEM.

"The introductory programming course “Earn Black Belt in Computer Programming” features 77 games. It begins when a little girl Sophia builds a Lego robot named Karel. They have fun together and go through various adventures including Halloween Night, Corn Maze, and Gold Mine. Later Karel saves precious animals at the ZOO, and prevents a huge disaster by removing explosives from a burning chemical factory. Both Karel and Sophia become famous. They are in newspapers and on TV. Sophia is noticed by Fantomas – a notorious villain who wants to rule the world. He kidnaps Sophia and wants her to build powerful war robots for him. Karel is very sad, as he knows he is too simple to find her. But he does not give up. He visits a RoboShop where he gets a CPU and an overall upgrade. He embarks on an epic journey to find his friend. He leaves on a ship. The ship sinks in a storm. He travels under the Sea, in the Jungle, and through the Desert, improving his programming skills on the way. Eventually he becomes very skilled. He conquers a Fortress and rescues Sophia. They are fleeing from Fantomas together, going through many adventures on the way. Back at home, however, Karel is bored and he decides to become a detective. He is very successful at his job, solving various mysteries. Therefore he is promoted to the Secret Service. There he continues solving exciting puzzles, preventing disasters, and he goes through new challenges every day. Eventually he becomes a legend and is introduced to the Hall of Fame. "

"Free STEM Apps

NCLab provides many free apps related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Every user account comes with time-unlimited free quotas:


100 MB of disk space
500 kB RAM
30 minutes of CPU time per day (most computations only take CPU milliseconds to seconds)

These quotas can be upgraded. Screenshots of selected apps are shown below. More details about all apps can be found in the menu on the right."

"A simple way to make web stuff on Raspberry Pi."

Code Hunt is an educational, browser-based coding game for everyone interested in coding.

This game will reinforce key concepts in the Java programming language. This would be a great review option for students at about the end of the first quarter. It has a modern interface and an engaging concept for high school students.

"Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to create images, animations, and interactions. Initially developed to serve as a software sketchbook and to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context, Processing also has evolved into a tool for generating finished professional work. Today, there are tens of thousands of students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists who use Processing for learning, prototyping, and production. "

"Blockly is a web-based, graphical programming editor. Users can drag blocks together to build an application. No typing required. "

"In mathematics, big O notation describes the limiting behavior of a function when the argument tends towards a particular value or infinity, usually in terms of simpler functions"

"Welcome to The Hello World Program, an online collection of videos and tutorials combining technology and art. Learn computer science, programming, and web development with us, your educational and entertaining super friends."

"What do you get when you combine Snap!, the premier drag and drop programming language, with an off the shelf rover vehicle kit, an Arduino micro-controller and s2a_fm interface software?"

"Here is a list of keywords in the Java programming language. You cannot use any of the following as identifiers in your programs. The keywords const and goto are reserved, even though they are not currently used. true, false, and null might seem like keywords, but they are actually literals; you cannot use them as identifiers in your programs."

" Energia is an open-source electronics prototyping platform started by Robert Wessels in January of 2012 with the goal to bring the Wiring and Arduino framework to the Texas Instruments MSP430 based LaunchPad. Energia uses the mspgcc compiler by Peter Bigot and is based on the Wiring and Arduino framework. Energia includes an integrated development environment (IDE) that is based on Processing. "