| Minibloq | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of Minibloq 0.8.Beta | |
| Developer | Julián da Silva Gillig |
| Stable release | v0.83 / April 29, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-04-29) |
| Written in | C++ /wxWidgets |
| Operating system | Windows,Linux |
| Type | Visual programming language |
| Website | minibloq |
Minibloq is a graphical development environment forArduino[1] and other platforms. Its main objective is to help in teaching programming.[2] It is specially used in robotics at elementary, middle and high schools. It's widely used in Argentina, where in theSan Luis province alone, more than 60000 children have been trained with this software in public schools.[3]
Minibloq is basically a graphical code generator with some IDE capabilities.[4] It's self-contained and every distribution includes the complete [toolchain] needed to compile (or interpret, depending on the selected target) and deploy the code to the selected hardware target. Every code block is configured inXML. Since its first public version, the code is generated in real time (for this purpose usesScintilla). Here are some examples of code generated forArduino:
Since the v0.82 version, it also can be used as anIDE for conventional programming ofArduino and otherphysical computing boards.
Since the v0.82 version,[5] miniBloq includes miniSim: a small 2D robot simulator, aimed specially for kids. It's a very simple tool to help teaching basic robot programming to kids whom do not own a real robot. miniBloq features some simple blocks that controls a small simulated robot with some remembrances toLogo, where the robot can draw a small environment (a maze, for example) and then use a sensor to interact with that environment. miniSim is under the same license as miniBloq, and has been programmed inPython, usingPyGame. miniSim is the official simulator software used by theEduc.Ar educational program from the Argentine Government.[6]
miniBloq runs underWindows andLinux, in principle, without dependencies. The v0.81 version is distributed both as a Windows installer (exe) or as a single multiple OS compressed file, which contains the Windows and theLinux versions. This last distribution was designed to be portable, so the user can run in from a pen drive in any of these operating systems. The version v0.82 comes only in Windows version, since theLinux is under development. However, a preliminaryLinux version can be downloaded from a branch from miniBloq'sGitHub repository.
There are derivative versions of miniBloq made for specific platforms by third party teams or private companies:
There are some activity books available online as PDF about miniBloq and educational robotics:
