Karel the robot introduced by Pattis in 1981 included a turnoff instruction. Since then, every clone seems to include that instruction as well.
I have never seen a pedagogical reason given for including the turnoff instruction. I have yet to see a good example where the use of that instruction is required... Karel the robot is used as a mini-language to introduce programming concepts. An alternative visual environment is provided by turtle graphics. When I look at turtle graphics, there is no turnoff instruction ... As I am working on a new rur-ple version, I was wondering if it would not be preferable to simply drop the turnoff [turn_off() in rur-ple] instruction. If you use GvR or rur-ple or any other Karel like environment to teach programming concepts, or if you have used such an environment when you started learning yourself, I would definitely be interested in hearing your opinion. Cheers, André
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