Grasshopper finally comes to Brazil, an app for those who want start programming

If you're an early programmer or are interested in the topic, chances are you've come across Grasshopper, Google's platform for aspiring developers. For years, the language barrier was an obstacle for the tool to reach the country, however, to reach the Brazilian public once and for all, the project will finally be launched in the country with its completely free introductory JavaScript courses.

Grasshopper was conceived in Google's experimental projects incubator, Area 120, by a team of Google programmers. The project aims to “remove barriers” that limit access to education and prepare adults and youth for programming careers, a skill that is becoming increasingly important, according to the giant.

The programming platform for beginners arrives in Brazil as part of the Grow with Google initiative, in which the company supports the country's economic recovery through products and free training to develop personal and professional skills. "Coding is becoming an essential skill in the job market, and we want everyone to be able to learn about it," explains Google's Chief Marketing Officer Susana Ayarza.

What is Grasshopper?

All Grasshopper learning takes place through games, interactive lessons, and quizzes focused on JavaScript. In addition to introducing more people to this environment, the app also serves as a bridge for students of programming logic, still stuck in pseudocode, to the practical part of the work, already with one of the most popular languages on the market.

Block programming is also present on the platform, especially in the early stages of learning — in the app, called “Fundamentals”. In this first moment, the applications of functions, creation of variables, flow control, and the insertion of parameters are taught.

Afterward, the user will go through lessons on the manipulation of strings, arrays and is invited to think “outside of the box” when seeing alternative solutions to known problems — always, of course, using the fundamentals introduced throughout the course.

Also inside Grasshopper are snippets, an area in the platform's Gallery. From there, the student is encouraged to explore their coding skills and create basic solutions manually, with HTML markup and CSS styling, if familiar with the topic.

Still in development

More news should be on the way, as Grasshopper is an ever-evolving platform. In addition, some resources exist on the original platform, in English, that are not included in the Portuguese adaptation. HTML and CSS formatting of web pages, for example, is one of the concepts that the app launched in Brazil does not include in the learning journey.

Until then, the mobile app was only available in English and Spanish, however, from today (8), Google will release versions of Android and desktop in Portuguese. The release for iOS, on the other hand, is not expected to happen. To check out the tool, just access the official Grasshopper website and register with your Google account at no cost.

Google traz ao Brasil o Grasshopper, app para quem quer aprender a programar - Canaltech