We’re excited to announce our new Block Trinkets, which link Scratch-like drag-and-drop blocks with the power of the Python programming language!
At Trinket our mission is to help every teacher bring code to their students. Our Original Python trinkets are helping thousands do just that around the world. But recently we’ve heard from more and more teachers who want a bridge from the excellent Scratch ecosystem into the world of real, text-based languages. If you’re one of these teachers or students, our new Trinket is made just for you. In the spirit of Trinket teachers everywhere, let me show you exactly what I’m talking about. Click Run on this trinket to run the block code:
This Halloween themed trinket is inspired by a very special young programmer named Shakeena. You can read a little more about here here.
Although the blocks may look familiar, these are special. If you click the View Code button, you’ll see that they’re generating real Python code underneath. This lets students start to connect the familiar blocks with real code. Here’s Python code that will do the same thing as the blocks above when you Run it:
Neat! From here, teachers can discuss syntax in terms of block shapes, introduce techniques like refactoring, and excite students with the power of real, text-based code.
The most rewarding part of our work is seeing what teachers and students create with Trinket. You can customize either of the trinkets above and get a link to share it with your friends. If you share it on twitter, include @trinketapp or #TeachWithCode and we’ll retweet you!