LOGO-L> cloning procedures

[Paul C Dench <Paul.Dench@bigpond.com>]

Hello George Mills and fellow Logo users

When working with children with other (older?) versions of Logo I had
developed a teaching technique of 'cloning' procedures e.g. once a pattern
was discerned in a procedure rather than 'typing' all the regular shapes
(square, triangle, pentagon etc) one by one, the students would edit a
'typical' procedure, rename it and make the small changes necessary to suit
the new purpose. It saved lots of time and errors and focussed their minds
on the structure inherent in good code.

Unfortunately MSWLogo doesn't allow such use of the editor - the new
procedure replaces the old procedure which is then lost. Even the 'cut' &
'paste' strategy is not too reliable a process with younger students.

I did try using 'expert' mode of editing (for me not the students) hoping
it would get me around the problem but the second editor did not get me
anywhere.
 
So I have devised the following procedure to get around the problem: 
=====================
to clone :newproc :oldproc
;; clones a copy of an old proc under a new name for editing variations
	define :newproc text :oldproc
	ed (se :newproc :oldproc) ;; allows editing of :newproc
end
=====================
which generates a 'newproc' as an identical copy of the oldproc' and opens
the editor to allow the incidental changes to the code.

Does anyone have a better way of doing this?

For George Mills:

* any chance that future versions of MSWLogo could allow a procedure to be
renamed in the editor without losing the old name?

* or alternatively how about a 'clone' primitive

* incidentally now I have found out how to get into 'expert' editing, what
would I use it for?

P.S. I hope you are all finding the philosophical and technical dialogue on
'Why Logo?' and 'Why not Toon Talk?' as fascinating as I have. Worth bottling!



Paul Dench
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