MSWLogo

Short description: Programming language

MSW Logo windows

MSWLogo is a programming language which is interpreted, based on the computer language Logo, with a graphical user interface (GUI) front end. It was developed by George Mills at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Its core is the same as UCBLogo by Brian Harvey. It is free and open-source software, with source code available, in Borland C++.

MSWLogo supports multiple turtle graphics, 3D computer graphics, and allows input from ports COM and LPT. It also supports a windows interface, so input/output (I/O) is available through this GUI, and keyboard and mouse events can trigger interrupts. Simple GIF animations may also be produced on MSWLogo version 6.5 with the command gifsave. The program is also used as educational software. Jim Muller wrote The Great Logo Adventure, a complete Logo manual using MSWLogo as the demonstration language.

MSWLogo has evolved into FMSLogo: An Educational Programming Environment, a free, open source implementation of the language Logo for Microsoft Windows. It is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and is mainly developed and maintained by David Costanzo.

Features

Animated gif with turtles in MSWLogo (Lemniscate of Bernoulli)

Animated gif with turtle in MSWLogo (Limaçon)

MSWLogo, as of version 6.5b, supports many functions, including:

• TCP/IP Winsock networking
• Win16, Win32, Win32s
• Text in all available fonts and sizes.
• 1024 independent turtles.
• Bitmapped turtles
• Bitmap cut, paste, stretch
• Clipboard text and bitmaps
• MIDI devices
• Direct I/O to control external hardware
• Serial and parallel port communications
• Zooming
• Tail recursion: optimizes most recursive functions
• User error handling
• Standard Logo parsing
• Save and restore images in .BMP format files
• Color bits per pixel: 1, 4, 8, 16, 24
• Standard Windows hypertext help
• Standard Windows printing
• Separate library and work area
• Construction of Windows dialog boxes
• Event driven programming: mouse, keyboard, timer
• Multimedia devices: WAV sound files, CD-ROM control, etc.
• Event timers allowing multiprocessing
• 3D perspective drawing: wire-frame and solid
• Animated GIF generation

Command	Abbr.	Syntax	Output	Example
FORWARD	fd	FORWARD <number of steps to move forward>	Moves turtle forward for number of times specified	forward 100 or fd 100
BACK	bk	BACK <number of steps to move backward>	Moves turtle back for number of times specified	back 100 or bk 100
RIGHT	rt	RIGHT <degrees to rotate toward right>	Turns turtle right for number of degrees specified	right 228 or rt 228
LEFT	lt	LEFT <degrees to rotate toward left>	Turns turtle left for number of degrees specified	left 228 or lt 228
HOME	home	Home	Comes to screen center but does not clear the screen	home
CLEAN	ct cs	Clean	Clears the screen of trails but the turtle remains where it is without moving	clean
CLEARSCREEN	CS	Clearscreen	Clears the screen of trails and comes to screen center	cs
HIDETURTLE	HT	Hide turtle	Hides the turtle and aids viewing a clear drawing on the screen	ht
SHOWTURTLE	ST	Show turtle	Shows the turtle after it is hidden from the screen	st
PENUP	PU	(set) Pen up	Sets the turtle to move without drawing	pu
PENDOWN	PD	(resets) Pen	Resets to a drawing pen when ordered to move	pd
CLEARTEXT	CT	Clear text	Clears all text in the command screen	ct
CIRCLE		Circle	Makes a circle repeat 360 [FD (desired length in number of pixels divided by 360) RT or LT 1]	circle
Pattern	pay	Pattern	Makes a pattern	pattern
SetPC		SetPC <RGB value here (ex. 255, 255, 255)	Sets the pen color to that rgb value	setpc [255 255 255]
SetSC		SetSC <RGB value here (ex. 255, 255, 255)	Sets the screen color to that rgb value	setsc [255 255 255]