Edited 2013-10-07: The beta is now openly available via the normal Google Play market! Details below:

Hi!

We have created a free visual programming language for smartphones strongly inspired by Scratch. It allows you to create, remix, and run applications directly on your smartphone, without any PC. The Android version is now beta, with versions for iPhones, Windows Phones, mobile HTML5 browsers, and tablet devices of all supported platforms in various alpha stages.

The name of the programming app is “Pocket Code”, and the name of the visual programming language is “Catrobat”, which is also the name of our project. Additionally, “Pocket Paint” is an image editor that, among other things, allows making parts of pictures transparent.

To take part in the beta, please become a member of the “Pocket Code Beta” Google+ Community via http://catrob.at/beta and follow the steps described there. (not needed anymore — see below for download links in Google Play)

The programs you create using Pocket Code will in the future run unchanged on all smartphones and tablets: E.g., when you use Pocket Code to develop a game on your Android phone, your friend having an iPhone will be able to play it once we release Pocket Code for iOS. At the moment only the Android version is public.

Pocket Code has its own sharing and remixing site. It is reachable via the “Explore” button of Pocket Code.

Pocket Code does not yet have all Scratch blocks, but we are working on it. We do however support multi touch and sensor input, e.g., inclination and accelerometer sensors of your smartphone. It is already now possible to program some fairly sophisticated programs such as a small airplane flying over an infinite floor space, a Tic-Tac-Toe Master with an “AI” engine, a Lego Mindstorms robot controller (sensor support will follow soon), a Simon Says game, a Galaxy War shooter with phone sensor control, a bubble level tool app, a movement activated Rock Paper Scissors player, and many more…

Pocket Code is free open source software. The overall Catrobat project is large, with more than 200 volunteer developers, designers, translators, usability engineers, and other supporters working on many subprojects, e.g., a 2D physics extension that makes the programming of Angry Birds like games very easy, the ability to creating Android Live Wallpapers out of your programs, a way to export screen recordings to YouTube, or a translator of Scratch projects where when-key-X-pressed blocks are automatically replaced by additional sprites, with costumes looking like these keys, that are placed on the far left and right black borders of the landscape screen of your phone. You can find more information about Catrobat on http://catrobat.org/

We look enthusiastically forward to your comments, suggestions, and feedback, either here in the Scratch forum or in Pocket Code’s community forum.

There was one small change in the behavior of programs, namely that the first look of each object is now immediately shown at the center of the screen when executing a Catrobat program, without the need for an extra “Switch to look …” brick. Some Catrobat programs will thus need less “Switch to look …” bricks, but maybe additional “Hide” bricks in order not to show looks of objects that should appear only later during program execution.

The original restricted beta version (the one for which you needed a Google+ account for the Pocket Code Beta Google+ community) will be deleted soon.

Please also download a new version of Pocket Paint from the market as the old one has been depreciated (updating is not enough, you have to deinstall the old Pocket Paint version first).

The links are:

• Pocket Code: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.catrobat.catroid

• Pocket Paint: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.catrobat.paintroid

Enjoy!

Wolfgang (for the Catrobat team)
–
Posted with permission from the Scratch team.

Is this HTML5 with a layer like PhoneGap?

Is this HTML5 with a layer like PhoneGap?

It is developed natively for all platforms, i.e., the Android version is implemented in Java, the iOS version in ObjectiveC, etc.

Is it possible to join the beta without a Google+ account?

I saw this a while ago and have it installed. I think you'll have trouble releasing it on iOS though.

technoboy10 wrote:

Is it possible to join the beta without a Google+ account?

Not directly, as this is a requirement from Google for Beta Apps in Google play since May 2013. It would be much easier for you and us if you could participate through Google+ as everything is handled through Google play and you would not need to permit “installation from unknown sources”. If Google+ is not possible for you for whatever reason, please contact support@catrobat.org with your exact device model, its precise Android version, a short explanation why you cannot use Google+, your Google mail address, as well as the best way to reply to you.

Thank you and kind regards,
Wolfgang

jji7skyline wrote:

I saw this a while ago and have it installed. I think you'll have trouble releasing it on iOS though.

It is true that Apple declined interpreters in the past, notably a Scratch interpreter. Since then, they have changed their position significantly. Also, we have very good contacts with Apple. But of course we will only know for sure once we stay in their market.

Pocket Code will allow to execute Scratch 2.0 programs soon (including support for Lego Mindstorms, Arduino, etc), supports the full display resolution of all devices, will soon support more sensors and actuators of the mobile devices (GPS, vibration, flash, camera, …), and all uploaded Catrobat programs run directly on all platforms .

Kind Regards,
Wolfgang

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

jji7skyline wrote:

I saw this a while ago and have it installed. I think you'll have trouble releasing it on iOS though.

It is true that Apple declined interpreters in the past, notably a Scratch interpreter. Since then, they have changed their position significantly. Also, we have very good contacts with Apple. But of course we will only know for sure once we stay in their market.

Pocket Code will allow to execute Scratch 2.0 programs soon (including support for Lego Mindstorms, Arduino, etc), supports the full display resolution of all devices, will soon supports more sensors and actuators of the mobile devices (GPS, vibration, flash, camera, …), and all uploaded Catrobat programs run directly on all platforms .

Kind Regards,
Wolfgang

The reason they declined the Scratch app is because it downloads code. I don't know if that has changed though. Another possible reason they declined it is because it uses too much memory. I read in an iOS app development book that Apple doesn't accept apps that use too much memory or are unstable (like the Scratch app is).

nathanprocks wrote:

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

jji7skyline wrote:

I saw this a while ago and have it installed. I think you'll have trouble releasing it on iOS though.

It is true that Apple declined interpreters in the past, notably a Scratch interpreter. Since then, they have changed their position significantly. Also, we have very good contacts with Apple. But of course we will only know for sure once we stay in their market.

Pocket Code will allow to execute Scratch 2.0 programs soon (including support for Lego Mindstorms, Arduino, etc), supports the full display resolution of all devices, will soon supports more sensors and actuators of the mobile devices (GPS, vibration, flash, camera, …), and all uploaded Catrobat programs run directly on all platforms .

Kind Regards,
Wolfgang

The reason they declined the Scratch app is because it downloads code. I don't know if that has changed though. Another possible reason they declined it is because it uses too much memory. I read in an iOS app development book that Apple doesn't accept apps that use too much memory or are unstable (like the Scratch app is).

Yeah, but recently they have accepted some interpreters that “download” code in a special sense, and games are allowed that download “levels” that actually are sophisticated code, and HTML5/Javascript is also allowed which basically allows to do anything, e.g., execute Snap!. Steve Jobs also made a huge difference… Apple is very education oriented and internationally has troubles maintaining their position outside of the US behind Android and increasingly also Windows Phone. And we do not need much memory and are not unstable

Also, our software development and quality assurance processes are top-notch, with an almost 100% test coverage that we use also as code documentation and that is fully and remotely automated.

We have high hopes … and some strategies how to do it even if the straightforward approach does not work

And if nothing else works, our HTML5/Javascript version will for sure also run on iOS devices

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

nathanprocks wrote:

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

jji7skyline wrote:

I saw this a while ago and have it installed. I think you'll have trouble releasing it on iOS though.

It is true that Apple declined interpreters in the past, notably a Scratch interpreter. Since then, they have changed their position significantly. Also, we have very good contacts with Apple. But of course we will only know for sure once we stay in their market.

Pocket Code will allow to execute Scratch 2.0 programs soon (including support for Lego Mindstorms, Arduino, etc), supports the full display resolution of all devices, will soon supports more sensors and actuators of the mobile devices (GPS, vibration, flash, camera, …), and all uploaded Catrobat programs run directly on all platforms .

Kind Regards,
Wolfgang

The reason they declined the Scratch app is because it downloads code. I don't know if that has changed though. Another possible reason they declined it is because it uses too much memory. I read in an iOS app development book that Apple doesn't accept apps that use too much memory or are unstable (like the Scratch app is).

Yeah, but recently they have accepted some interpreters that “download” code in a special sense, and games are allowed that download “levels” that actually are sophisticated code, and HTML5/Javascript is also allowed which basically allows to do anything, e.g., execute Snap!. Steve Jobs also made a huge difference… Apple is very education oriented and internationally has troubles maintaining their position outside of the US behind Android and increasingly also Windows Phone. And we do not need much memory and are not unstable

Also, our software development and quality assurance processes are top-notch, with an almost 100% test coverage that we use also as code documentation and that is fully and remotely automated.

We have high hopes … and some strategies how to do it even if the straightforward approach does not work

And if nothing else works, our HTML5/Javascript version will for sure also run on iOS devices

Ok. When I get an iPad Mini hopefully around the end of this year (waiting for the retina display), I will try this app. I can't use my iPod Touch because the display is broken (unusable) and half of the digitiser is not working.

nathanprocks wrote:

Ok. When I get an iPad Mini hopefully around the end of this year (waiting for the retina display), I will try this app. I can't use my iPod Touch because the display is broken (unusable) and half of the digitiser is not working.

Great! We will try hard to make it happen

Hi,

We found that taking part in the Pocket Code Beta after all seems to be a bit complicated for many users, so we added several comments below the main instructions on http://catrob.at/betatest. In case you had problems downloading Pocket Code previously, please try to follow the instructions given there. Note that you first have to join the Pocket Code Beta community at http://catrob.at/beta.

Not needed anymore, as the beta is now openly available via the normal Google Play market at

• Pocket Code: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.catrobat.catroid

• Pocket Paint: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.catrobat.paintroid

Enjoy!

Kind Regards,
Wolfgang

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

We have created a free visual programming language for smartphones strongly inspired by Scratch. It allows you to create, remix, and run applications directly on your smartphone, without any PC. The Android version is now beta, with versions for iPhones, Windows Phones, mobile HTML5 browsers, and tablet devices of all supported platforms in various alpha stages.

Windows 8 App?

easymath123 wrote:

Windows 8 App?

We have not thought about it until now, but yes, you are of course right: Platforms are converging, and there probably will be fewer and fewer differences in the future between Windows Phone 8/9/… devices with large screens and Windows 8/9/… tablet PCs. Most likely a large chunk of code will be reusable for the native IDEs and interpreters.

Of course the HTML5 IDE and interpreter should work out of the box, but this solution might have limitations, though performance also increasingly becomes less and less an issue, so that might always be a viable fallback solution. Note that Scratch 2.0 and Snap! should also run flawlessly on Windows 8 PCs and thus might be a better fit for your Windows 8 PC.

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

technoboy10 wrote:

Is it possible to join the beta without a Google+ account?

Not directly, as this is a requirement from Google for Beta Apps in Google play since May 2013. It would be much easier for you and us if you could participate through Google+ as everything is handled through Google play and you would not need to permit “installation from unknown sources”. If Google+ is not possible for you for whatever reason, please contact support@catrobat.org with your exact device model, its precise Android version, a short explanation why you cannot use Google+, your Google mail address, as well as the best way to reply to you.

Thank you and kind regards,
Wolfgang

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

Hi!

We have created a free visual programming language for smartphones strongly inspired by Scratch. It allows you to create, remix, and run applications directly on your smartphone, without any PC. The Android version is now beta, with versions for iPhones, Windows Phones, mobile HTML5 browsers, and tablet devices of all supported platforms in various alpha stages.

The name of the programming app is “Pocket Code”, and the name of the visual programming language is “Catrobat”, which is also the name of our project. Additionally, “Pocket Paint” is an image editor that, among other things, allows making parts of pictures transparent.

To take part in the beta, please become a member of the “Pocket Code Beta” Google+ Community via http://catrob.at/beta and follow the steps described there.

The programs you create using Pocket Code will run unchanged on all smartphones and tablets: E.g., when you use Pocket Code to develop a game on your Android phone, your friend having an iPhone will be able to play it once we release Pocket Code for iOS.

Pocket Code has its own sharing and remixing site. It is reachable via the “Community” button of Pocket Code. Please note: To download a program written by someone with Pocket Code from that site, please use the preinstalled Android stock-web browser – the reason is that we still have problems with some other Android web browsers that do not support correctly installing the downloaded program for Pocket Code.

Pocket Code does not yet have all Scratch blocks, but we are working on it. We do however support multi touch and sensor input, e.g., inclination and accelerometer sensors of your smartphone. It is already now possible to program some fairly sophisticated programs such as a small airplane flying over an infinite floor space, a Tic-Tac-Toe Master with an “AI” engine, a Lego Mindstorms robot controller (sensor support will follow soon), a Simon Says game, a Galaxy War shooter with phone sensor control, a bubble level tool app, a movement activated Rock Paper Scissors player, and many more…

Pocket Code is free Open Source software. The overall Catrobat project is large, with more than 200 volunteer developers, designers, translators, usability engineers, and other supporters working on many subprojects, e.g., a 2D physics extension that makes the programming of Angry Birds like games very easy, the ability to creating Android Live Wallpapers out of your programs, a way to export screen recordings to YouTube, or a translator of Scratch projects where when-key-X-pressed blocks are automatically replaced by additional sprites, with costumes looking like these keys, that are placed on the far left and right black borders of the landscape screen of your phone. You can find more information about Catrobat on http://catrobat.org/

We look enthusiastically forward to your comments, suggestions, and feedback, either here in the Scratch forum, in Pocket Code’s community forum, or on the Pocket Code Beta Google+ Community pages.

Enjoy!

Wolfgang (for the Catrobat team)
–
Posted with permission from the Scratch team.

If you have a Google account, why don't you put the source on Google Code?
https://code.google.com

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

a short explanation why you cannot use Google+

Google+ is a privacy nightmare. You have to agree to let them geolocate you, just for starters. Imho it's irresponsible to encourage children (such as Scratch users) to join it.

PS: Congrats on beta! It's great that you're doing native support on all those devices. Now please add lambda…

But, @tb: If you've figured out how to get a YouTube channel without a G+ account, please tell me!

Yay! finally the android gets the love it desrves! <3

bharvey wrote:

But, @tb: If you've figured out how to get a YouTube channel without a G+ account, please tell me!

Done.

1. Make a gmail address.
2. Delete G+ from your account.
3. Make a YouTube channel.
Voila.

stickdude123 wrote:

Yay! finally the android gets the love it desrves! <3

Yep, other than the fact that all android phones come unlocked. Go Android! Boo Apple!

easymath123 wrote:

hej_wickie_hej wrote:

Pocket Code is free Open Source software.

If you have a Google account, why don't you put the source on Google Code?
https://code.google.com

We hosted our source on Google code for more than one year but ran into troubles as our system became bigger, troubles that could not be resolved even in cooperation with Google. We moved to github.com/Catrobat/ in May 2012 and since then are very happy there.

Note that even Google itself is hosting some of its critical open source software on github instead of Google code, e.g., Android