WEBVTT

00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:03.642
[Music]

00:00:06.492 --> 00:00:12.244
If you're a camera, a 3D camera
and you're looking at her, and she's

00:00:12.244 --> 00:00:16.856
pointing in that direction. The question 
is What do you call 'x'

00:00:16.856 --> 00:00:19.861
What do you call 'Y' and 
what do you call 'z'.

00:00:19.861 --> 00:00:25.739
I would want to take all of the knowledge 
that I've learned through out this camp.

00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:31.667
Using Quorum and maybe develop my 
own game. Maybe later down the line.

00:00:33.297 --> 00:00:38.259
I really want to teach others. 
That's sort of what I like to do.

00:00:38.259 --> 00:00:41.053
And with Quorum I can 
do that much easier.

00:00:50.483 --> 00:00:52.686
Technology jobs are in demand.

00:00:52.686 --> 00:00:56.976
And an understanding of computing and 
coding are important for anyone pursuing

00:00:56.976 --> 00:01:02.741
these opportunities. But learning
programming languages can be difficult for

00:01:02.741 --> 00:01:06.340
any new student, including 
some students with disabilities.

00:01:07.160 --> 00:01:09.250
That's why Quorum was created.

00:01:10.210 --> 00:01:13.690
My name is Andreas Stefik. 
I am an assistant

00:01:13.690 --> 00:01:17.441
professor of Computer Science at The 
University of Nevada Las Vegas.

00:01:17.441 --> 00:01:23.280
I invented the Quorum programming
language, at first, then my wife and I

00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:25.523
actually created several 
versions of it together.

00:01:25.523 --> 00:01:30.799
It was originally designed to help blind 
and visually impaired students learn to

00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.997
program more easily.

00:01:32.997 --> 00:01:35.907
The reason was because at the time 
a lot of computer science

00:01:35.907 --> 00:01:38.693
was moving toward 
a very visual content.

00:01:38.693 --> 00:01:43.409
And that in general makes a lot of sense,
however, not if you're blind.


00:01:44.989 --> 00:01:47.709
I'm Richard Ladner, 
professor in computer

00:01:47.709 --> 00:01:49.951
Science and engineering at the
University of Washington.

00:01:49.951 --> 00:01:54.782
So you really need similar code 
to what you have there already.

00:01:54.782 --> 00:02:01.253
Children who are blind, who can't see
can actually program in Quorum.

00:02:01.253 --> 00:02:06.719
And make things that talk, 
or have sound or have music.

00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:09.087
So they're not 
always so visual.

00:02:09.087 --> 00:02:11.826
If you look at almost all
the tools that are out there

00:02:11.826 --> 00:02:14.737
for children, they're all
super visual.

00:02:14.737 --> 00:02:17.732
And this one is visual and auditory.

00:02:17.732 --> 00:02:20.559
So that makes it much better for every
body.

00:02:20.559 --> 00:02:24.156
I am Lauren Milne, I'm a graduate student

00:02:24.156 --> 00:02:26.654
at University of Washington 
in Computer Science.

00:02:26.654 --> 00:02:31.954
I work with Richard Ladner 
and I do a lot of research

00:02:31.954 --> 00:02:37.521
in programming languages
specifically for blind students.

00:02:37.521 --> 00:02:43.600
It has full support for 
screen readers and braille displays

00:02:43.600 --> 00:02:48.826
and it has a lot of features, 
it's very easy to incorporate

00:02:48.826 --> 00:02:51.556
audio in programs and a lot 
of things that you can play

00:02:51.556 --> 00:02:53.791
around with in audio 
so it means you can

00:02:53.791 --> 00:02:56.587
make really accessible,
you know, you can

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:56.587 --> 00:02:58.577
quickly and easily 
make accessible games

00:02:58.577 --> 00:03:01.309
or whatever you'd 
like using Quorum.

00:03:01.309 --> 00:03:05.242
Quorum's features are 
universally designed

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:05.242 --> 00:03:08.198
Making it an easier language 
to learn, in general.

00:03:08.198 --> 00:03:12.409
One of the reasons 
why Quorum is easier

00:03:12.409 --> 00:03:15.054
in some cases, for people 
to learn and grasp,

00:03:15.054 --> 00:03:17.675
is because the language is simpler.

00:03:17.675 --> 00:03:19.991
Which impacts people 
with learning disabilities.

00:03:19.991 --> 00:03:23.034
For example, if I were 
to tell the computer

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:23.034 --> 00:03:25.487
to do something over and over again,

00:03:25.487 --> 00:03:32.624
in a language like Java, I would say
(language on screen)

00:03:32.624 --> 00:03:36.420
Which obviously means that we should do

00:03:36.420 --> 00:03:39.885
something 10 times. In Quorum,
I say repeat 10 times.

00:03:39.885 --> 00:03:43.530
I find, personally, 
reading Quorum programs

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:43.530 --> 00:03:46.671
a lot easier than reading 
C programs or

00:03:46.671 --> 00:03:48.154
Java programs.

00:03:48.154 --> 00:03:53.088
I can understand them more easily 
and so I feel like there's some major

00:03:53.088 --> 00:03:56.496
advantages from the get go.
Just that simple elegance.

00:03:56.496 --> 00:04:00.394
Most languages, 
after every single line

00:04:00.394 --> 00:04:01.961
you have to put a semi colon.

00:04:01.961 --> 00:04:04.384
Why do you have to put a semi colon?

00:04:04.384 --> 00:04:08.509
It seems to be just tradition. 
It doesn't need to be there.

00:04:08.509 --> 00:04:11.787
And Quorum has no semi colons.

00:04:11.787 --> 00:04:14.149
They hypothesized that it 
would be really good

00:04:14.149 --> 00:04:16.543
for certain students 
with learning disabilities.

00:04:16.543 --> 00:04:21.622
Quorum doesn't use braces, 
it uses indentation

00:04:21.622 --> 00:04:25.040
and it uses keywords instead 
to indicate the end of loops.

00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.098
I want you to type 
the word model,

00:04:27.098 --> 00:04:29.462
and then I want you 
to type the word box.

00:04:29.462 --> 00:04:33.520
Now there's a red underline here 
because we haven't added.

00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.792
Over the years, 
Quorum has gained popularity.

00:04:40.792 --> 00:04:43.873
I'm Dominic and I'm really into computers,

00:04:43.873 --> 00:04:47.983
and really enjoy using Quorum, and have

00:04:47.983 --> 00:04:51.704
used other computer programs 
before like C++ and Java.

00:04:51.704 --> 00:04:55.540
One of the things that stands out 
to me in Quorum is the punctuation.

00:04:55.540 --> 00:05:01.287
And it's like really easy because you 
don't have to add in all the semi colons

00:05:01.287 --> 00:05:07.795
and all the annoying like #'s and @
symbols and everything.

00:05:07.795 --> 00:05:12.720
You just use words basically, 
which is way easier than using

00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:16.124
all those confusing symbols 
and I think that makes it

00:05:16.124 --> 00:05:18.938
easier for me to program 
in Quorum than in other languages.

00:05:19.808 --> 00:05:23.156
Hi, I'm Alyssa. 
What makes Quorum easier

00:05:23.156 --> 00:05:26.775
is the way they wrote, 
the way they program

00:05:26.775 --> 00:05:28.802
for us to write the code.

00:05:28.802 --> 00:05:33.440
So we don't have to add 
semi colons and brackets and

00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:34.971
paranthesis and all this stuff.

00:05:34.971 --> 00:05:37.506
They made it easier. 
You can just type in a

00:05:37.506 --> 00:05:42.522
word "output" lets say for example and
then you can write in quotes

00:05:42.522 --> 00:05:44.817
whatever you want 
the computer to say.

00:05:44.817 --> 00:05:49.504
And that's what makes it 
a lot more unique than other

00:05:49.504 --> 00:05:51.640
programming languages like Java.

00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:55.724
I'm Mary. You can do
a lot more things in

00:05:55.724 --> 00:05:58.805
Quorum with less lines 
of code than in

00:05:58.805 --> 00:06:00.967
some other things that I've used before.

00:06:02.427 --> 00:06:05.014
Quorum is evidence based. 
Using the results of

00:06:05.014 --> 00:06:07.523
Scientific experiments to 
determine how to make

00:06:07.523 --> 00:06:09.792
the language easier to use.

00:06:10.842 --> 00:06:14.715
Quorum provides two primary benefits.
One is everything is free.

00:06:14.715 --> 00:06:17.591
And then number two,
at the end of the day,

00:06:17.591 --> 00:06:20.705
all of the materials that 
we use and that we give

00:06:20.705 --> 00:06:23.160
to people are vetted 
both by teachers and

00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:25.708
students and are 
vetted in experiments

00:06:25.708 --> 00:06:27.522
through the scientific method.

00:06:27.522 --> 00:06:30.047
The result is a programming language

00:06:30.047 --> 00:06:32.353
that is creating a more 
inviting environment

00:06:32.353 --> 00:06:34.022
for computing students.

00:06:34.772 --> 00:06:36.698
A lot of people, 
I have seen this

00:06:36.698 --> 00:06:40.776
in intro classes that I've taught, 
they come in and they get

00:06:40.776 --> 00:06:44.867
really intimidated when 
they start programming.

00:06:44.867 --> 00:06:47.925
There's all sorts of bugs, 
and it can be very frustrating.

00:06:47.925 --> 00:06:52.676
People drop out, and very often 
the only people who stick around

00:06:52.676 --> 00:06:56.079
are people who come into a 
college course with previous

00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:57.890
programming experience.

00:06:57.890 --> 00:07:02.918
Anything that lowers that initial entry 
is going to bring a lot more people,

00:07:02.918 --> 00:07:05.062
a lot more diversity because of that.