When we think of the Raspberry Pi, we usually think of a single-board computer, but the Raspberry Pi Foundation was started to help kids learn about computers and wants to help whether they own the hardware. I’m here. The non-profit arm of Raspberry Pi this week released a new browser-based code editor designed for young learners (or anyone else).
Considered in beta, the Raspberry Pi Code Editor is currently available for free to everyone. editor.raspberrypi.org (opens in new tab)The editor is currently designed to work only with Python, but the organization says it will support other languages such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
I’ve tried the code editor on my PC’s browser, and in its current form, there’s nothing particularly unique about it. However, I was impressed with the UI being very easy to use and integrated into the online tutorials.The interface includes a list of files in the project, a code editor, and[実行]It consists of three panes, an output pane that runs the results of your code when you press a button.
If you create a free account on raspberrypi.org which I did, the system will store all your projects in the cloud and you can reload them at any time. You can also download all the files in your project as a .zip file.
Since the entire programming experience takes place online, there is no way (at least for now) to use Python to control the local hardware of a PC or Raspberry Pi. If you want to attach the best Raspberry Pi HAT or use the Pi’s GPIO pins to turn on LED lights, you need a local editor like Thonny. It comes pre-installed on every Raspberry Pi and is a free download for Windows. mac and linux.
The Raspberry Pi code editor isn’t the only online Python editor, you can also use services such as: Trinket.io (opens in new tab)This allows you to write Python code in one pane and preview it in another. But what’s interesting about the Raspberry Pi tools is that the organization has several Python tutorials designed to be used with the Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation already had a great set of Python tutorials on their site, but we’re modifying some of them so that you can open the example code directly in the online editor.For example when I tried “Greetings” lesson (opens in new tab), the first link on the page opens the editor’s working set of code in a new browser tab. When I visited the page again a few minutes later and clicked the link, it was back to the same code I had edited earlier. This is because the lesson was saved as a project associated with your account.
It was fun to write a simple Python script that would print “Tom’s Hardware is here” to the screen and repeat it 500 times. The editor supports the use of emojis in your output, and the sample code provides several emojis that you can copy and paste into your commands.
Currently the editor is first two lessons (opens in new tab) The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s “Intro to Python” learning path. However, all lessons are available in Trinket or another editor. I’m sure the new editor will be integrated into all lessons soon.
The Pi Foundation says it plans to add more features to the code editor, including sharing and collaboration. The organization also plans to release the editor as an open source project, allowing anyone to modify it. Based on my brief testing experience, I can say that it is a great learning platform for new coders, especially when used in the tutorial path on raspberrypi.org.
