Merlin Programmer for Kids is a simple program to help kids, ages 5 and up, learn about the concept of sequential programming by allowing them to make Merlin or any of the other Microsoft Agent characters perform actions, move, speak and make sounds in a predetermined manner. They will learn about do loops, conditional program continuation based on time or key strokes, and more! I wrote it for my twins, Tommy and Betsy, ages 7 now, and although they enjoy it most for making the characters speak naughty words and make silly sounds, they are learning to do more. I am sure your kids will have fun with it!

It is a shareware program that can be used indefinitely unregistered for evaluation. To register follow instructions in About menu selection.

 

Version 2 (1/3/03) is out -- with multi character support!

Version 3 (1/7/03) is out -- no loading characters -- all available, all the time. New access interface to characters!

Version 3.5 (1/11/03) is out -- character movement speed adjustable; conditional program continuation on character overlap

Version 4.0 (1/14/03) is out -- clear script button, moveto another character's location, minor bugs fixed

Version 4.1 (1/17/03) is out -- introduced if then, elseif then, else endif; waitfor any key or any chacarter collision then act on result

Version 4.5 (1/20/03) is out -- introduced conditional programming with voice commands ( you must download and install the MS speech recognition engine to use this feature (http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/agent2/actcnc.exe); goto command

Version 5.0 (1/21/03) is out -- wave files created in Merlin or elsewhere can be used as speech output; minor bugs fixed

 

 

Version 5.5 (2/3/03) is out -- minor bugs fixed

 

Version 5.5.1 (10/18/03) is out -- bugs fixed that intefered with running in WinMe

Version 5.5.2 (10/31/03) is out -- some more bugs fixed

 

Download the self-extracting set-up file (here) to a temporary directory, and run (double click on it) to extract. Follow instructions in the Installation html file that is extracted. You can download (right click; save target as) the Help file.

 

Sometimes I fix minor bugs without creating a new full installation file, instead the new executable file can be found here, if it exists. If you have already completed the latest full installation, simply save the new executable to the Merlin Programmer directory (usually "C:/Program Files/Merlin Programmer for Kids/") and select yes to overwite the old file. The update will then be functional.

 

 

My home page: Yale University Ear Lab