Recommend an IDE for schoolchildren

Question

IDE

The situation is this: we need an IDE to teach programming to schoolchildren from 0. Children in grades 6-10. For the last N years, Delphi 7 has been used for this, but how much is possible. The language is not fundamental, it is the IDE that is fundamental.

Requirements:

1. Complete mouse poking in terms of creating an interface. We need an IDE in which to create a form with buttons and text fields and attach handlers to button clicks, you do not need to write a single line of code. This requirement is critical, because there can be no console development in principle due to the specifics of the course. At the very first lesson, we create a form with buttons and test fields and begin to slowly understand in the handler functions that there are variables, that there are all sorts of ifs and other scribbles. Output - to some MsgBox or Edit'y, input - from Edit'ov.
2. Simplicity and complete automation of work with standard form elements + something like a Delphian Canvas, just as easy to use. Children should not write a single incomprehensible line of code, i.e. no manual adding of handlers, no shamanism with classes, nothing. Children do not learn OOP, children learn what is if and what is a variable, they do not go further. The hardest part of the course is two-dimensional arrays. Therefore, there should not be anything distracting them from if's and variables. Those. if it exists, then it should be done automatically, as in Delphi. Manually children have to write only if'y.
3. Although the language is not important, it should not be a corpse, like Delphi, but something modern.
4. IDE must be free.
3. It is desirable that this works under Linux. Although all sorts of .NET are possible, the main thing is that the IDE is free))

The language, as I said, is not very important. Now we teach on the example of Delphi, although we practically don’t say a word about OOP. The point is to provide an interesting (think of buttons and forms for drawing) interface for learning the simplest constructions and concepts of the language.

Wow… I know it’s a stupid question, but I don’t understand how modern IDEs treat mouse poking at all. And I want to teach children not on a wretched corpse.

Answer 1

Qt Creator fulfills all your requirements and is quite pleasant to work with.

Answer 2

Maybe switch from Delphi to Lazarus?

Answer 3

Well visual studio express + c# is free. But you can teach the principles in BASIC.
Under linux - for c # you can use mono
IMHO, the chain should be basic-> pascal-> c #
i.e. from structured programming to functional programming and then OOP.

Answer 4

Give them Eclipse and the Android SDK. Learning to do what will run on their mobile phones (and Android for most) will be much more interesting for them!

Answer 5

Although Delphi is a “corpse”, it is perfect for learning - the semantics of the language is understandable to schoolchildren. This fact checked on these - Delphi is perceived better than other languages.
VBA and AutoIt also have similar “light” semantics.

Answer 6

I'm not sure that it will cost only if and variables, but only MonoDevelop and C # from the Linux / cross-platform visual and in demand come to mind. Qt Creator forms, of course, can draw, but still not for children IMHO C ++ with add-ons. You can also try Qt Creator along with PyQt/PySide, but I'm also not sure if it's possible to get by with only variables and if.
In general, take a look (in descending order of subjective preferences, IDE/language):
MonoDevelop/C#
Qt Creator/Python(PyQt)
Qt Creator/C++
Although, it may make sense to put Qt Creator / Python (PyQt) in the first place - dynamic typing is still simpler in theory, and the code itself is not so “dirty” - no brackets for the structure, no classes like System.Windows.Documents.DocumentStructures .ListItemStructure in variable and parameter types (may the .NET experts forgive me for the incorrectness of the example)

Answer 7

Eclipse or something based on Eclipse: Aptana for example. Let them make "live" pages on html + javascript. Interesting, modern and creative. Understanding the Internet and browsers will certainly not be superfluous in life. Even if they don't become programmers.

Answer 8

The most visual is the DRAGON . It doesn't get any better visually.

Answer 9

scratch.mit.edu
and www.alice.org

interface of course only English unfortunately

Answer 10

Reminds me of Small Basic . (And on Habré .)
But alas, it is without a form editor.

Answer 11

Try wxDev C++.

Answer 12

Well, judging by the description, only Delphi suits you IMHO.
At one time we studied in Pascal and then Delphi. Pascal is of course not so interesting for children (even boring for many). And we were also first taught a strictly procedural approach, and the properties of objects (windows, objects on the form) were used without realizing what OOP is, just some variable associated with this field, which makes it visible / not visible for example.

Answer 13

Yes, and you don’t need to learn how to make up - they will learn it themselves if they want to. It is enough to show them this toy as a sandbox and a testing ground for experiments, without unnecessary reproaches about standards and compatibility. And they start playing it. Not all of course, but very many, especially girls (oddly enough).

Answer 14

netbeans. There is a very simple form designer and for java you will always find a bunch of docks and examples.

Answer 15

NetBeans+Java

Answer 16

Try HiAsm, I've been playing with it for a very long time. Programming without a single line of code, and everything is quite simple, like a flowchart.

Answer 17

Only JetBrains and nothing else, in my opinion it can't be better