Turtle Graphics
Turtle graphics is a programming paradigm in which a virtual "turtle" moves around a drawing canvas, leaving a colored trail as it follows code instructions. Developed as part of the Logo programming language in the 1960s by Seymour Papert and colleagues at MIT, turtle graphics was designed from the outset as a tool for teaching programming to children — and it remains one of the most effective introductory programming environments available. codeguppy.com includes a full-featured turtle graphics module in its JavaScript platform, making this classic educational tool available in a modern, browser-based coding environment with no installation required.
The turtle graphics environment on the platform supports the full range of turtle commands: movement commands (forward, backward), rotation commands (right, left), pen control (penUp, penDown, penColor, penSize), and positioning commands. These simple primitives, combined with JavaScript's loops and functions, give students the tools to create everything from basic geometric shapes to complex recursive fractals. The progression from "draw a square" to "generate a Sierpinski triangle" is one of the most elegant demonstrations of the power of abstraction in all of CS education.
For CS teachers, turtle graphics serves multiple curriculum purposes: it is an ideal introduction to programming for beginners, an excellent vehicle for teaching loops and functions, a natural context for geometric and mathematical reasoning, and a platform for exploring recursion with visually spectacular results. The turtle graphics module on codeguppy.com connects seamlessly to the rest of the JavaScript platform, so students who master turtle graphics can immediately apply their skills to game development and other project types.
Explore the turtle graphics tutorials, reference documentation, and example programs at codeguppy.com — all free, all browser-based, and all designed to make turtle graphics as engaging and educational today as it has been for generations of young programmers.
A free coding platform for schools
codeguppy.com is a free coding platform for high-school and middle-school students. Teachers around the world are using codeguppy.com to teach JavaScript.
To make coding easy, fun, and engaging for students of all ages, codeguppy.com comes with an online code editor and a graphical oriented runtime based on the p5.js library. The platform enables students to learn JavaScript while building fun games and animations.
Coding projects and activities for students
codeguppy.com comes with tons of coding projects and activities that students can use as a starting point for their projects.
Contact us!
If you want to learn more about the free coding platform, please feel free to contact us at any time. We can discuss how to get started with coding, how to implement codeguppy.com in your coding club ... or even discuss coding questions or share programs.