What's New in Scratch 2.0

My son is finally make his space shooter the way he envisioned because of the new clone sprite action. Exciting times ahead, here is a pic of him getting down last night:<p><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJ3OudQCQAALZCc.jpg:large" rel="nofollow">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJ3OudQCQAALZCc.jpg:large</a>

One important thing that's new in Scratch 2.0 under the hood is the transition from the .SB file format (a rather complex SmallTalk object store) to a ZIP based bundle containing all required media along with JSON encoded scripts. The upshot of this is that consuming Scratch files in other apps should be a lot easier.<p>That said, one <i>downside</i> of Scratch 2.0 (at least in my view) is the migration to a Flash based editor/playback engine. And I don't entirely blame MIT for this, because Scratch 2.0 has been under development for quite a long time. Five years ago, Flash maybe seemed more appropriate than it is now.

I used Scratch to teach my son how to program at 9; and now, at 11, he's doing JS/HTML/CSS at a beginner level.<p>We used the scratch programming for teens [1] book.<p>-----<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1598635360/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1598635360/</a>

2.0 may have been a long time in the making, but I just bought the Scratch Adventure book for my kids last week, which uses 1.4, unaware of the pending update. When I went to the site to download Scratch, it was down while preparing for the 2.0 release. I thought it was a pretty ironic introduction to programming, always new shiny objects.

I'd love it if anyone could give a good head to head on Scratch 2.0 vs. Snap! 4.0[1] (the new name for BYOB, Berkley's Scratch spin-off). I realize that Snap is aimed more teaching high school/college CS, but they're seeming to converge a bit.<p>I don't have a CS class this year, so I haven't set aside enough time to dig into the latest versions of Snap or Scratch. If anyone has any insight to share, it'd be greatly appreciated.<p>[1] <a href="http://snap.berkeley.edu" rel="nofollow">http://snap.berkeley.edu</a>

Requires an "always on" Internet connection.<p>Coupled with the Flash front end, that doesn't make me hugely happy.

Anyone know more about how the social features are moderated? Thats my first thought these days, sad I know but...

What does this mean for the Raspberry Pi? Will Raspbian's default browser be able to handle it?

Does anyone have any recommendations on at what minimum age should this be introduced to kids? The website recommends 8-16 years, but then I was doing real programming at the age of ten, so eight may not be the best answer. My son is five right now.<p>Introducing too early seems to have a downside that if my son does not like it (or cannot grasp it), he develops a negative feeling towards it like boredom or else, and then subconsciously does not want to return to it even at the right age.

This is huge! Vector graphics and cloning are things I've wanted for years. It's also great to see it alk in the browser.

Did anyone really want an in-browser editor? It's the kind of thing that's cool in theory, but not productive.

but but how it will work with the lego wedo now ? :(