WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:07.100 --> 00:00:09.440 Technology jobs are in demand 00:00:09.450 --> 00:00:12.080 and an understanding of computing and coding 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:15.840 are important for anyone pursuing these opportunities. 00:00:15.840 --> 00:00:20.409 But learning programming languages can be difficult for any new student 00:00:20.409 --> 00:00:23.099 including some students with disabilities. 00:00:23.099 --> 00:00:25.589 That’s why Quorum was created. 00:00:25.589 --> 00:00:28.470 My name is Andreas Stefik. 00:00:28.470 --> 00:00:31.039 I'm an assistant professor of computer science 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.550 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 00:00:34.550 --> 00:00:36.910 I invented the Quorum programming language. 00:00:36.910 --> 00:00:39.219 It was originally designed to try to help 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:43.190 blind or visually impaired students learn to program more easily. 00:00:43.190 --> 00:00:48.640 At the time a lot of computer science was moving toward very visual content 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.320 and that in general makes a lot of sense, 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:53.260 however, not if you're blind. 00:00:53.260 --> 00:00:55.900 I'm Richard Ladner, 00:00:55.900 --> 00:00:59.630 professor in computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. 00:00:59.630 --> 00:01:06.290 Children who are blind who can't see can actually program in Quorum. 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:10.040 If you look at almost all the tools that are out there for children, 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:15.040 they're all super visual and this one is visual and auditory 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.630 so that makes it much better for everybody. 00:01:17.630 --> 00:01:21.800 Quorum’s features are universally designed, 00:01:21.800 --> 00:01:24.930 making it an easier language to learn in general. 00:01:24.930 --> 00:01:29.340 The language is simpler which impacts people with learning disabilities. 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:34.060 For example, if I was to tell the computer to do something over and over again 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:42.170 in a language like Java I would say "for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {" 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:46.200 which obviously means that we should do something 10 times. 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:48.590 In Quorum, I say "repeat 10 times." 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:51.920 I find personally reading Quorum programs 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.370 a lot easier than reading C programs or Java programs. 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:59.490 Most languages after every single line 00:01:59.490 --> 00:02:02.000 you have to put a semicolon. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.500 Why you have to put a semicolon, it seems to be just tradition. 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:11.030 It doesn't need to be there and Quorum has no semicolons. 00:02:11.030 --> 00:02:16.750 Quorum is evidence-based, using the results of scientific experiments 00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:20.810 to determine how to make the language easier to use. 00:02:20.810 --> 00:02:23.670 Quorum provides two primary benefits. 00:02:23.670 --> 00:02:27.340 One is everything is free, and then number two, 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:30.370 at the end of the day all of the materials that we use 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:34.420 and that we give to people are vetted both by teachers and students 00:02:34.420 --> 00:02:38.000 and are vetted in experiments through the scientific method.