The Mu Team is pleased to announce the availability of Mu 1.0.0-beta.17, a Python code editor for beginner programmers! This is the final beta version before a release candidate later this week and the final 1.0 release sometime next week. This version is feature complete for 1.0. Any further changes will be bug fixes or cosmetic changes rather than new features.
Highlights include:
- A major re-write of how MicroPython code is flashed onto the BBC micro:bit. If there’s one thing we’d love to be tested by users, it’s this! All feedback most welcome (submit a new issue if you find a problem or discuss things via online chat).
- The latest and greatest version of MicroPython for the BBC micro:bit.
- Updates to the Python visual debugger (which is working really well).
- Protection from “shadow modules”. When many new programmers first save, for example, some
turtle
based code they call their fileturtle.py
. This breaks Python in a subtle yet opaque manner for beginners. Of course, their newturtle.py
file takes precedence in the import path, so where their code saysimport turtle
it is, in fact, trying to import itself..! Not a good situation for anyone, let alone a beginner programmer. As a result, Mu will complain if you try to give a file the same name as an existing module on your Python path. We know from extensive feedback this feature will save hours of confused head-scratching for beginners and teachers.
These and many more are in beta17. As always, feedback, bug reports and ideas would be most welcome! #madewithmu
You can read the whole announcement here.
Are you using Mu to code? Let us know your experiences in the comments below!