Eclipse and Karel the Robot

The Eclipse IDE

One of the first things I did for the Stanford programming methodology course was to install the Java JDK and then the Eclipse IDE. This was my first experience with an IDE, a step up from Notepad++. While a later book I read encouraged avoiding IDEs and typing out code with no assistance, I found the automatic code completion and instant feedback for syntax errors helpful for beginning to learn Java. For the course, Stanford developed a customized version of Eclipse. This version made it possible for beginners to get started with some basic object-oriented programming ideas without having to start with something like the main() class.

I have since had experience with the Android Studio IDE, which seems quite similar to Eclipse, and have learned of a few others. In time I would like to try out Emacs, NetBeans and others.

Karel the Robot

The first few course assignments were to be written in Karel, a simple object-oriented language similar to Java. Karel is the name of a little robot that will follow programming commands as he moves through a grid. Karel has only four main functions:

• move()
• putBeeper()
• pickBeeper()
• turnLeft()

You are told what to have Karel do and then you must accomplish it using only those four functions. 

move() tells him to move forward one step. putBeeper() has him put down a marker in the grid and pickBeeper() has him pick a marker up. turnLeft() does what the name suggests. You may need to have him turn right but there is no turnRight() function. So you can have him turnLeft() three times, then you learn to write your own turnRight() function to use.

Karel the Robot was a fun introduction to programming. It teaches you to problem solve, using logic, and to begin to think in a object-oriented way. You can find the Karel the Robot Learns Java book here.

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