FMSLogo is a free implementation of a computing environment called Logo, which is an interactive programming language that is simple, powerful, and best of all fun. You can download FMSLogo from the project portal on SourceForge.

There are many Logo environments to choose from, so why choose FMSLogo?

• FMSLogo has a simple GUI that encourages learning.
  
• FMSLogo provides support for exploring diverse disciplines, including mathematics, engineering, art, music, and robotics.
  
• FMSLogo is smaller than most other Logo environments -- it still fits on a floppy disk.
• FMSLogo runs fine on computers that are 10 years old.
  
• FMSLogo has a strong, international user community with over a decade of classroom experience.

Because of this, FMSLogo is ideal for elementary school computer labs.

Seymour Papert designed Logo to be powerful enough for computer research, but simple enough so that it could be enjoyed by children. Papert used Logo to conduct Artificial Intelligence and Robotics research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of the robots that Logo controlled had a dome-shaped protective casing over its electronics that made it resemble a turtle. As personal computers became more affordable, the physical turtle was replaced by a virtual turtle on a computer screen. The virtual turtle was given a pen to help it fit into the familiar world of childhood learning. Drawing is already a natural part of childhood, but drawing with Logo is different than drawing with crayons. To draw with Logo, you must learn to think about drawing, enough so that you can teach a complete idiot (the turtle) how to draw.

Logo is different from other computer languages that are taught to children, in that Logo encourages exploring ideas over getting the right answer. Logo should be thought of as a tool for learning, not as a stand-alone skill. When Logo is used best, it can break down the arbitrary barriers between subjects such as Art, Mathematics, Music, History, and Language. This is best achieved by allowing children to create their own open-ended projects that are personally meaningful to them. Indeed, the most challenging (and rewarding) task for a Logo teacher is to get the students to move beyond Turtle Graphics and use Logo to explore other domains.

FMSLogo was originally called MSWLogo. It was written by George Mills and based on UCBLogo, which is written by Brian Harvey and is still under active development. A large, international community adopted MSWLogo, translated it into several different languages, and created countless lessons plans around it. Today, FMSLogo has a home on SourceForge. It is my hope that SourceForge will serve as a focal point for future community involvement.