mBlock

Programming is widely viewed as science only accessible to geniuses and computer nerds. mBlock is a free program that refutes this idea.

It lets you animate sprites and program hardware devices in a very easy and intuitive way.

It has a colorful interface that, at first, looks like a game and not like programming software. This makes it less menacing for novices like me. In fact, it is possible to start immediately to animate one of the many sprites available. As the program's name implies, it is as simple as creating a figure using building blocks. You only need to select the events, motion, looks, backgrounds, sounds, etc. that you want to use with your sprite. These come in the form of building blocks that you need to assemble in the order you want. It is as simple as that.

You can also program hardware devices using other of the program's functions. This way, you can program robots and other devices. It works exactly in the same way, just by assembling blocks in the corresponding order.

Although the software is very easy to use at first, you need to devote some time to learn its more advanced functions.

The program also has an online version that you can use from your browser. Thus, you need to create an account both for using the online version and to work with the desktop program.