THE LITHUANIAN WORLD OF LOGO

Not long ago, we had the pleasure of reading the book “A Journey into the World of Computers” [1] by computer science specialist V. Dagienė. Today we can welcome a new book, “The Logo Handbook” (V., 1966. 248 p.), written by her together with co-authors T. Balvočienė and A. Klupšaitė. It is recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science and was published with funds from the Open Lithuania Foundation.

As the preface explains, Logo is both a pedagogical philosophy and a programming language. The aim of the language’s author, S. Papert, a world-renowned American scholar, was to create a computer system that would appeal to children and encourage them to want to find out, experience, and learn as much as possible, and, above all, one that would suit their creative inclinations. The book discusses the commands in the Lithuanian version of the Logo Writer system for IMB personal computers. The handbook is intended for secondary-school teachers and students, as well as all children interested in the mysterious world of Logo.

The book consists of three parts. The first briefly introduces the basic concepts of the Logo language. The second discusses all the commands. Based on the similarity of the actions they perform, these are divided into five groups: 1) pages, 2) graphics, 3) text, 4) programming, 5) computer. The third part of the book is a collection of 14 appendices. These include a concise description of the “Logo Writer” commands, covering page, graphics, text, programming, and computer commands; an account of working with a mouse; a description of the keys; a presentation of messages from the “Logo Writer” system; a guide to DOS, including directories and files; tables of colors, sounds, frequencies, and codes; and even a glossary of computer and “Logo Writer” system terms. The book concludes with a list of sources consulted and recommended reading. This shows that the book was written thoughtfully and quite methodically. It is an engaging read. Children can give the book’s main character, Little Turtle, all sorts of commands to carry out, for example: imkkaukę 30, iprkaukes (ordinary masks) 58, keiskfoną 83, keiskkaūkes, keiskšiaskeukes 58, keisksp (change color) 84, leiskkeisti 55, piešktekstą 28, valykkI (clear the command area) 51, ženklaspo 86, and so on. As for the names of these commands

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their spelling may raise some doubts. On the other hand, as the authors point out, “Little Turtle’s words are somewhat peculiar: anything made up of letters and digits, and even other signs, is considered a word” (32).

Thus, the book’s simple, even somewhat childlike style seems to help create the impression of a conversation with Little Turtle. And what is the language of this conversation? In general, the language of the imagined conversation is clear, fluent, and correct. Here are a few examples. “Little Turtle has a brush, which he uses to draw or trace lines and color shapes. The brush is beneath Little Turtle’s belly, right in the center. Sometimes we want Little Turtle to draw as he moves, and sometimes we want him not to. For that, he needs to know how to raise and lower the brush. The command eisim specifies Little Turtle’s next state: he will only move, without drawing, so the brush must be raised. Thus, after this command, Little Turtle will move without drawing or coloring anything until we change his state. Little Turtle can draw or color only when (=tada) his brush is lowered. The command piešim specifies Little Turtle’s state: drawing will continue, so the brush must be lowered” (70–71).

“At first, Little Turtle is looking upward—to the north. But then we tell him to turn one way, then the other—and it is no longer clear which direction our Little Turtle is facing… We can ask for the direction and get a number expressing the angle between Little Turtle’s initial position (0 degrees, when he is facing north) and his current one” (77).

The book contains quite a few mathematical and computer science terms. To help students remember these terms, they are printed in a different typeface. Most are correct, for example: enclosing directory 210, input key 168, variable 38, real numbers, integers, negative numbers, positive numbers 31, subdirectory 184, printer 168, working disk 183, working directory 184, and so on.

However, one or two terms or lexical choices may give rise to doubts. The authors suggest calling a special page containing necessary information atmena (31). More precisely, such a page should be called atmintine. This word is used with just that meaning in our language [2]. So it is quite natural that computer science specialists are trying to establish it as a technical term and suggest using it in place of the term atmintis when referring to the computer

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a device for receiving, storing, and presenting data, in other words, a device capable of remembering.

There has been considerable discussion among computing specialists [3] about the term byla (100), and the discussion is still ongoing. Linguists have written and spoken about it on several occasions [4]. It seems, nevertheless, that the most suitable Lithuanian equivalent of failo would be rinkmena. Recently, of the synonymous terms kompiuterinis paštas, kompiuterių paštas (9) and elektroninis paštas, the term elektroninis paštas has become established.

Terms that need correction include, for example: one can ask the Turtle to write text in bold-underlined kursyvo šriftu (= kursyvu) 171; it has a cover—titul inį (= antraštinį) page, a contents page, and many pages <…> 15; A and B—the diskelių (lanksčiųjų) (= diskelių) drive 183; and the book “Journey to the Land of Computers” says that “sometimes people still say ‘flexible floppy disk’ quite unnecessarily—it is obvious enough that it is flexible and magnetic” (50); it has its own nuosavą (= savąjį, savo) contents, and new pages can be created in it 227; cf. also sav asis rezonansas, rus. собственный резонанс, angl. proper/natural resonance MTŽ 191 [5], savasis svyravimas, rus. собственное колебание, angl. proper oscillation MTŽ 228; darbo su turinio lapu klavišai 213 (= turinio lapo klavišai), cf. teksto tvarkymo klavišai 214, kaukių tvarkymo klavišai 216.

What is the need for vertikalusis brūkšnys 32, horizontali linija 20, and specifinis veiksmas 225, when one can say stačias brūkšnys, gulščia linija, savitas veiksmas?

A few words are used with a non-recommended meaning, for example:

bet koks – not recommended in the sense of “each, any”: The name of a variable can be any (=each) word in the Turtle language... 39; A page name can be formed from any (=all kinds of) letters of the Latin alphabet... 49;

bet kuris – not recommended in the sense of “each”: Before the name of a page, just as before any (=each) other name, double quotation marks are written 49; ...its pointer can be moved onto any (=each) button 210;

duotas – not recommended in the sense of “this”: ... The Turtle replaces the given (=this) word with a number...34;

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stovėti – do not use; use “to be”: ...instead of the name there are (=is) three question marks 48;

tuo pačiu – do not use; use “together, jointly”: ...introduces the basic concepts of the Logo language (tuo pačiu (=kartu) and the “Logo Writer” system) 11; The Logo language (tuo pačiu (=kartu) and the “Logo Writer” system) is based on the Turtle... image 17.

The verbs saugoti, paruošti would be better replaced by the verbs laikyti, (pa)rengti, for example:...meaningful names should be chosen, recalling the data they store (=laikomus) 39; The Turtle stores (=laiko) all the data given to it in certain tiny boxes 38; All the specified Turtles get ready (=pasirengia) to execute the subsequent commands 17; And what should we do if we want to prepare (=parengti) and print a list on the computer <...> 169, and so on.

The standard and usual forms of the verb are pasidalyti, įvardyti. These should be used, for example: it is best to name the sheet (=įvardyti) this way...49; Before taking a new sheet, the Turtle always asks you to name (=įvardyti) the previous one and will remember it <...> 9, cf. also the terms bulvinė, but not bulvių saugykla TT 93 [6], vandens baseinas, vandens talpykla; tvenkinys, but not vandens saugykla TT 93; įstatymų, nutarimų rengimas, but not įstatymų, nutarimų ruošimas TT 91, specialistų rengimas, but not specialistų ruošimas TT 91.

How unusual the phrase “work with a sheet” sounds, for example: it sees and knows (=remembers) it only when working with that sheet... 60; Both these commands apply only to the sheet we are working with 55, cf. also 25, 36, 55, p. 193. Would this phrase be more precise: the sheet on which we draw or write, especially since the authors themselves seem to think so, for example, <...> we have only one sheet on which we draw and write 21.

Occasionally there is a case-ending error or an otherwise awkward stylistic expression, for example: <...> if <...> they made some Turtles active (=certain Turtles active), then they will remain so <...> 82; <...>for example, if we want to put into a “Logo Writer” sheet text created with any text editor (=a particular text editor) <...> 225; The sheet to be remembered must have a name, which we must give it (=we give it) 21.

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Despite the aforementioned inaccuracies, the reference book is interesting to read, and it seems one should agree with the authors' view that, after reading it, children will be able to use a computer to realize their creativity, imagination, and most unexpected ideas.

Literatūra

1. Dagienė V. Kelionė į kompiuterių šalį. Vilnius: Litus, 1995.

2. Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas / Vyr. red. St. Keinys. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 1993.

3. Zajankauskas S. Kas tas failas? Kas ta byla? Kas tas tvarkinys? O gal kiti terminai būtų geresni? // Informacijos mokslai. 1996. Nr. 4(1). P. 123–127; Grigas G. Keletas terminų iš dviejų informatikos žodynų // Veidrodis (kompiuterinis leidinys). 1996. Nr. 3. P. 26-31.

4. Gimtoji kalba. 1994. Nr. 8–9. P. 17; 1995. Nr. 4. P. 21–22.

5. MTŽ – Matematikos terminų žodynas / Moksl. red. J. Kubilius. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 1994.

6. TT – Terminologijos taisymai. Vilnius: Mokslas, 1992.

Angelė KAULAKIENĖ

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