Title: Not Just for Novices: the Design and Implementation 
of Blocks Programming in MIT App Inventor

Speaker: Franklyn Turbak, Wellesley College Computer Science Department 

Abstract: 

In blocks programming languages, programs are built by connecting code
fragments shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces, Because they lower
barriers for novices learning how to program, blocks languages like
Scratch, Blockly, StarLogo Nova, and MIT App Inventor, are becoming
increasingly popular for introductory programming experiences.

In this talk, I will describe the design and implementation of the
blocks language in MIT App Inventor, an environment for creating
mobile apps for Android devices.  After giving a live demo of the
environment, I will focus on features currently in the language as
well as some under development, including live development, event
handling, naming, types, debugging, and conversion between blocks and
text languages. Although MIT App Inventor is targeted at novices, I
will argue that some of these features would be worth incorporating
into environments for more traditional programming languages.