"You know how haunted houses have creaky doors or creepy monsters? I made the story go real loud, but real slow to make it seem scary," Tariq Trowell, a seven-year-old at Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary in Louisville, KY who is visually impaired, tells me.
Tariq is talking about using Code Jumper, a coding language developed by Microsoft for children who are blind or visually impaired. Different from computer-based programming languages such as Python and C++, Code Jumper is an educational tool comprised of modular, physical pieces students can string together to create code.
It makes coding tactile and fun -- and it's highly customizable. Students can play single musical notes or complete songs, tell stories, use pre-set sounds and make their own sounds. They have control over speed, pitch and volume, too, which is what Tariq played with to make his ghost story.
[...] There are 63,357 children who are blind or visually impaired in the United States, according to a 2017 APH annual report. Cornell University Disability Statistics estimate that only 15.7 percent of people who are blind or visually impaired complete a bachelor's degree or higher, based on 2016 American Community Survey data. That means fewer than 10,000 of those 63,000-plus children who are blind or visually impaired will earn advanced degrees if this trend continues.
[...] Each Code Jumper kit has two main components – a hub and several pods. The hub is a hand-sized white plastic device that runs on four AA batteries. It has a large circular blue play button and a slightly smaller circular blue stop button. It also has a built-in speaker, volume control and four ports that look like traditional headphone jacks.
Pods are smaller white plastic devices you attach to the hub via the ports. Each pod represents a line of code and has its own ports so you can continuously connect additional pods like a massive centipede, until you run out.
[...] "We're looking at this [Code Jumper] as a career piece," Meador says. Microsoft, Apple and Google accessibility teams have spoken with him about the shortage of programmers who are blind or visually impaired. They're in high demand.
"You can be blind and become a programmer. There are a lot of blind programmers out there," he adds.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday March 08 2019, @01:04AM (1 child)
It seems like they actually care about accessibility when putting money into projects like the Xbox adaptive controller and an initiative like this. Either that, or they have to to be ADA-compliant for some contracts. In any case, it's a good bet to trust their hardware (keyboards, mice, etc) even if you're not a fan of their software.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday March 08 2019, @01:05PM
This one, according to the Editors, is Softwear. They put it under Softwear. And it's going to have many loving fans. Not just because it's Microsoft -- many people are saying Microsoft Softwear is the best -- but because, no Computer. Where's the Computer? There is none. They got rid of the biggest biggest problem with Softwear. You don't have to have Computer, you can just put it on. And look terrific!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 08 2019, @01:21AM (2 children)
I looked at the link. I see some people sitting at a table, manipulating what look like toys. That is, I don't see a blind child with some accessibility thingy, playing on a computer. I see physical objects being played with.
"you can continuously connect additional pods like a massive centipede, until you run out."
So, is this just a money sink? Like Legos, you can build tiny, simple projects if you buy a kit with 25 bricks, but to build cool stuff, you need several hundred, or thousands of bricks.
I don't really know what I was expecting when I clicked on the link, but I did expect something that enables blind people to use a computer.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Friday March 08 2019, @01:32AM
Depends. On the vantage point you are looking from.
Certainly MS will be looking at it as a money-maker.
TFA
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @09:03AM
money sink or not, it's a choice between this or nothing.
if my kids were blind, I would buy a set when they're old enough.
when it comes to Legos, you can always argue that there are cheaper alternatives, so it makes no sense to buy into it.
but for instilling the concept of rule-based information processing for a blind child, the only alternative I can think of are quipu:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23931972-600-we-thought-the-incas-couldnt-write-these-knots-change-everything/ [newscientist.com]
And with quipu there isn't the easy "push a button hear what you did" feedback mechanism.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Friday March 08 2019, @01:27AM (1 child)
In the very early days of "programming" electronic systems, they sometimes used large physical plugboards. A configuration of wires would be the program, and if you wanted to store it, just remove the entire plugboard wires and all, set it aside, and put in an empty one. Not exactly the same thing, but physical.
Meanwhile, the blind/visually impaired can't use smartphones, tablets, thermostats or other "modern" gadgets because of the touch screens. Or as some assholes I have encountered would put it: 63,357 is less than 1% = NOT SUPPORTED!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @05:11AM
> plugboards
Iirc (I was a little kid), these were a standard feature of analog computers c.1960 -- the patch cords were connecting various different kinds of circuitry like op-amps and filters.
I still have a thing for banana plugs (single & dual) and patch cords, wouldn't buy test equipment that didn't use the (USA?) standard spacing dual connectors. Always use these connectors on home made speakers, etc. Now that I think about it, that ancient analog computer might have even used some triple banana plugs, like this,
https://www.newark.com/pomona/2970-2/triple-banana-plug-15a-screw-red/dp/35F1065 [newark.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @01:31AM
Should we poke the eyeballs out of Microsoft's UI developers? Even if it doesn't improve the software, it'll be fun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @02:05AM (3 children)
Is it a special colored pod, or does Microsoft try to hide it by making it look like the other pods?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @02:07AM (2 children)
Only Microsoft's R+D geniuses would consider pod color as a significant differentiator in a product intended for blind kids.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 08 2019, @02:22AM (1 child)
I'm a long way from blind, but depending on the colors used, they might as well be camoflage. Want to hide a bush full of red roses from me? Just let the grass grow up in the vicinity, I'll never see those roses unless I'm standinig almost on top of them.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @02:40AM
You bovine!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday March 08 2019, @03:36AM (1 child)
Windows has always felt like it's been coded by a thousand engineers with severe ADHD.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @09:17AM
It looks like you're trying to figure out who programmed Windows. Would you like some help with specific aspects of the OS?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @09:25AM (2 children)
Are blind programmers really in high demand or is that just one of the dumbest diversity signalling trend? It's good that coding isn't entirely inaccessible to the visually impaired, but the industry wants code monkeys that do the job fast. I can't imagine even a very proficient code jumpist match the pace of anyone that can use keyboard-fu. Let alone debugging their stuff. No offense met to the blind programmers that are apparently already out there but this just seems like a big old bowl of nothing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @02:36PM (1 child)
> I can't imagine even a very proficient code jumpist match the pace of anyone that can use keyboard-fu.
In case anyone is still reading...
c.1970, we had a 100% blind guy in high school who touch typed (typewriter). While his error rate was a little higher than ideal, his output was fast and easily understandable. And he was brilliant, if he applied himself to coding I'm guessing he would be a star. These days he could either partner with someone sighted to proofread and debug his brilliant program designs, or, slower, use text-to-speech to debug his own stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 08 2019, @05:45PM
A typo in plain text is an annoyance. A typo in code fails to compile or worse.
TTS goes at the speed of TTS, a normal guy debugging goes at the speed of his eyesight (sligthly held back by his brain if it's a hard to spot bug).
Plus, all the punctuation, parentheses and indentation is understood by the brain in a very graphical way that TTS eschews. Hell, just indentation is a nightmare to visualise without seeing the blocks. And if you're partenered with someone you have to explain your code to so he can debug in your place you're doing half a normal code monkey's job and bothering him enough that he can't work at 100% capacity either.
I'm not saying a blind coder can't have excellent insight on algorythms or even be a genius, as your anecdotal evidence shows it's possible. I'm just saying it's a disability that hinders a lot of critical parts of the job. And reading "[...]about the shortage of programmers who are blind or visually impaired. They're in high demand." Only makes me think of the worst aspects of hiring for diversity. It's not logical to devellop such a contrived way to make the blind code, it's so you can signal that you jumped through a lot of hoops to let them.