Getting Started

Welcome to Terrapin Logo! Logo is a programming language that was created specifically for children. Providing an open-ended environment with no ceiling or floor, Logo easily integrates into subjects across the curriculum. Curriculum ideas can be found at Customer Stories.

What’s New?

The latest version of Terrapin Logo contains a lot of upgrades from the previous version. The panels are much easier to handle, and the Logo editor has become much more aware of the code that you are writing, flagging problems as you type!

Here is the breakdown:

Look and Feel

No Desktop App

The desktop version of Logo has been discontinued. The desktop version for Classic Logo will still be available.

No More Menus

The menu bar has been removed, and the Icon Bar has been expanded to display the options that were availabe as menu items in Classic Logo.

Panel Layout

The panel layout has changed from freely moveable panels to a set of panels that can be arranged in a set of predefined layouts. Splitters between panels can be moved freely to resize each panel. Several Logo commands have been added to switch between layouts:

Command	Explanation
TS	The Listener occupies the entire screen.
FS	The Graphics panel occupies the entire estate.
SS	The Graphics panel occupies the upper part, and the Listener occupies the lower part of the screen.
SSV	The Graphics panel occupies the left part, and the Listener occupies the right part of the screen.
ES	Much like SS, with the Editor panel displaying to the right of the other two panels.
ESV	The Graphics panel is left, and the Editor and Listener panels share the right part of the screen. This is the default.
BS	Much like ESV, but the Blocks and Graphics panels share the left part of the screen.
BSV	Much like BS, but the Blocks and Graphics panels are arranged vertically.

Consequently, the variable :LAYOUT accepts a different list of values, but you can still use that variable to define a custom layout.

Editor and Listener Panels

Both panels have been redesigned. The Listener now has a single input line at the bottom. Both editors have been enhanced with deep static code analysis; as soon as you type anything, Logo checks the entered code and flags any errors it can find without having to run the code. For example, if you use an invalid color name as input to the SETPC command, Logo flags the word as an error. You can double-click the error, and Logo displays a hint box with a short explanation along with a link to the full explanation of the command.

You can always double-click a command to highlight it, and Logo will display the explanation of this command.

Integrated Help

Help no longer just refers to the online help. Instead, it is a fully interactive dialog with all command and property descriptions available at your fingertip. Code examples can be copied to the clipboard and pasted to the Editor or Listener. The Help dialog will even display help about your own procedures!

The Logo Language

Infix Operators

Infix operators are not permitted as prefix commands anymore. This is an error: + 4 5. Use the respective Logo command instead as in SUM 4 5 or simply use 4 + 5.

Relaxed Syntax

Logo does not support relaxed syntax anymore. For procedure declarations and variable names, you always need to use the leading colon character. Classic Logo permitted a procedure declaration like TO MYPROC COUNT, while the latest version needs the procedure declaration to be TO MYPROC :COUNT.

Debugger

The debugger has been rewritten. For runtime errors, it is disabled initially; you can change this behavior in the Settings dialog.

Logo Commands

PATHNAME does not report the OS name anymore.

UNDO and REDO have been removed.

CREATE.DIR, SELECT.FILE, and SELECT.FOLDER have been removed. These commands were almost never available for file I/O anyway.

Because the menu has been removed, the following Logo commands that used to handle menus and menu items have been removed:

APPENDMENU, APPENDMENUITEM, DELETEMENU, DELETEMENUITEM, FINDMENUID, and COMMAND

Widgets

The GRID widget has been removed, along with all grid-related commands:

FILLGRID, GGET, GGETTEXT, GPPROP, GRIDDIMS, GSET, GSETTEXT, LISTGRID and SETGRIDDIMS.

The callable properties of the Listbox widget have been renamed. To avoid confusion with other commands, all listbox callable properties have been prefixed with “LB”. For example, the property “ITEM” is now “LBITEM”, which removes possible confusions with the ITEM command.

Where do I start?

Terrapin Logo is accessible online via a browser. You can try Terrapin Logo for free and license Terrapin Logo for personal, family, class, school, or system use. Visit www.terrapinlogo.com/products/logo-category.html to sign up for Terrapin Logo.

Go to https://logobeta.terrapinlogo.com to access Logo online.

Low vision? Then go to https://logobeta.terrapinlogo.com/a11y!.

The first thing you will see is the Login Chooser. Select the “with License Code” option. Students at schools that have a Multi-User license select the “With Classroom Name” option.

This opens the dialog for your login code. Enter the login code that you have purchased here.

Enter your login code. Alternatively, if you have the online receipt from Terrapin Logo, the access code will appear at the bottom of the receipt. Click on the access code, which is also a link; the link will open the login dialog and fill in the login code for you.

If you do not want to re-enter the login code every time, you can check the “Remember my Login Code” check box, and the login dialog will fill in your login code automatically.

Multi-User Licenses

Owners of a Multi-User license can change quite a lot in the way how students log in to Terrapin Logo. Please refer to the Config page for more information.