Is there a new VPL update on the way soon?
I've seen it mentioned both in the forums:
(https://aseba.wikidot.com/forum/t-1038031/vpl-threshold-slider-for-sensors)
- and outlined briefly in the research paper (Visual Programming Language for Thymio II Robot)
I fully appreciate that the intention is to have as few bugs as possible in the official release version - and that the developers are undoubtedly limited by testing and coding resources.
However, now that there is a growing community of Thymio users it might perhaps be useful to move to a model where there is an official and (official) beta release - so that the beta users (who are likely to have more Thymio experience) could be doing some of the testing and bug reporting.
Of course the reason I am asking is that I have a personal interest!
- I'm in the process of adding examples to the wiki, (e.g. https://aseba.wikidot.com/en:thymiorotorvpl, https://aseba.wikidot.com/en:thymiochristmasdoodle). I am particularly interested in creating VPL based materials for Primary school children (5-11yrs) and their teachers. Any examples with VPL code, in screenshot images, will need revising to keep up to date with VPL changes. I think that keeping these examples up to date is particularly important as they are intended to be used by less experienced Thymio users - to help them build understanding and confidence. Broken examples are likely to discourage them as they will not easily know how to work around. They will not be able to tell the difference between broken code and broken understanding on their part.
- I'm teaching Primary teachers to use Thymio - initially with a focus on VPL. The event / action based architecture (with state setting) is hard for them to get to grips with (since their coding experience is limited to sequential models). VPL changes may undermine their confidence. For people who are outside of their comfort zone even cosmetic changes to interfaces can be unsettling. (Also, if there is a obviously simplifying feature such as easily linking multiple actions to a single event then I'd like to have it now!)
Thymio is an excellent learning platform and I think it is wonderful that it is gaining traction and that there is a growing community of users.
However it may be useful to look at the project priorities.
Keeping the users informed about the roadmap may become more important as the mainstream audience grows. This is particularly true for education users where committing to use a learning platform is a significant investment of time and energy - and changes (even good ones!) can be unsettling and potentially disruptive.
I hope this post explains why I'm asking the question. I understand the challenges in getting software from beta to release - but even knowing a target release date would be useful. To help users to plan.