Hi, I received the following message from the people who make the phrogram kids programming language. I think from the message, if you read it, they are willing to do what is necessary to make phrogram accessible.
Josh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Schwartz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Josh'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 11:44 AM Subject: RE: phrogram development question : kids programming language . > Hello Josh, > > Glad you found Phrogram! To answer your questions: > > 1. The free version of Phrogram does not compile EXE files or produce > Windows installer programs. You are the first blind programmer who has > asked us about Phrogram, and we would greatly appreciate your feedback > about > Phrogram, as well as about using JAWS with Phrogram, so here is an > academic > license key which you can use to register Phrogram: > > ACAP2K7I-TNM1Z-Y2A1Y-EHMZ1 > > The Help menu, Enter a Registration key is where this key is entered into > Phrogram. Phrogram does require .NET Framework 2.0 - you probably already > have that installed, but I'd be glad to send a download link if you do > not. > > > Phrogram is a 27 megabyte download, and can be downloaded from > http://phrogram.com/files/folders/86/download.aspx > > That downloaded EXE launches a standard installation wizard. Phrogram > adds > a My Phrogram Files folder underneath My Documents, and all included > Phrogram content is under that folder. > > 2. We do not know about JAWS, but I am hopeful that Phrogram will work > well > with it. Phrogram is a .NET windows application, which JAWS should > support > well. Phrogram is effectively a simple subset of the Visual Studio.NET > environment. It's menus and buttons are fairly standard. On feature that > might require some scripting is the Explorer pane, which is basically a > tree > control that organizes the many example programs that are included in > Phrogram. I would recommend starting a review of Phrogram program by > opening the 16 example programs in the folder "1) Step-by-Step Tutorial". > Those are each simple code examples which will give you a very quick > introduction to the language. Another feature which might require some > scripting is that the code editor using collapsible regions, just like > Visual Studio does. The leftmost columns in the code editor include a > line > number which is informational only. The column after the line number is > either a + indicating the region can be opened, a - indicating the region > can be closed, or a | indicating that line is within a region which is > open. > > At the moment, regions are closed by default. We already have in mind a > feature that allows all code regions to be opened by default - this would > surely be a better default for a blind programmer. > > 3. There are fairly standard keyboard shortcuts for all menu items, and > they > are listed on the menu item. If it would help to have a specific list of > keystrokes and menu functions I'd be glad to send you that. > > 4. Audio games can be created, but at the moment Phrogram's sound support > is > limited to playing, stopping and looping of WAV files. We plan much > richer > sound support in the future, and your feedback about that would be very > welcome. Your request for DirectX-style audio control is one we are > planning, just as we have also implemented a simplifying wrapper around > the > 3D model functionality in DirectX. Besides the dozens of WAV files > included > with Phrogram, we offer nearly 200 others for download from our website. > I > am a bit worried about the usability of the site for a blind person, so if > you find that http://phrogram.com/files/folders/soundfiles/default.aspx is > not usable for you, I can provide a list of direct urls to download ZIP > files of our sound archives. > > Thank you, and I hope you have fun exploring Phrogram! > > Jon Schwartz > The Phrogram Company > www.phrogram.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Josh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 09:18 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: Gamers Discussion list > Subject: phrogram development question : kids programming language . > > Hi, > > I was doing a google search for programming languages when I came across > your site. I am blind, and use a screen reader called jaws version 7.0 > from > www.freedomscientific.com . I'd like to know the following. > > 1. Does the free version of phrogram compile .exe files? > 2. will it work with jaws? if not, could jaws scripts be written to make > it > work with jaws? > 3. Are there keyboard shortcuts for the development environment? which > would > > make it easier for me to use since I don't use the physical mouse. the > screen reader can simulate mouse clicks using keys on the numeric keypad. > 4. Can audio games be created using the free versions of phrogram? Here's > an > > example of what I want to do. > > The games I will make have no graphics in them or pictures of any kind. > instead they use sound at different points in the stereo field panning > from > left to right or right to left. Suppose I make a space invaders type game. > I > > want to be able to say. > press the control key or f2 to activate a menu, choose machine gun from > that > > menu. the menu uses .wav or .mp3 files to guide the player through it. I > press down arrow in the menu and it tells me what choice I'm on by playing > a > > .wav or .mp3 file. so then I choose my weapon from the menu press enter. I > hear the sound of a plane panning from left to right from the left side of > the stereo to right side. When the sound reaches the middle or a certain > point in the stereo field, I can successfully shoot it down. If not, I > cannot and enemy lands and I loose some points. Also, can phrogram control > the frequency at which a sound is played, stereo, frequency, volume, > pitch, > panning, optional surround sound, etcetera? So basically all of the audio > features of DirectX and phrogram, I am interested in. Is this language as > easy to use or harder to learn or use than ruby or pithon? > > Josh > > > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > AOL: kutztownstudent > msn: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > skype: jkenn337 > _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. 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