Down the Rabbit Hole: How Alice Turned Computer Coding Into a Wonderland

<p>Thirty years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch asked a simple question: What if anyone could learn to program a computer? </p><p>Not just computer scientists, not just engineers. What if kids could learn coding the same way they learned to tell stories, build worlds, and play games?</p><p>In this episode we explore one of Carnegie Mellon&#39;s most enduring innovations: Alice, the drag-and-drop program that has introduced millions of students to coding through storytelling.  As CMU marks its 125th anniversary and Alice turns 30, guest Melanie Lam — Director of the Alice Project at CMU&#39;s Entertainment Technology Center — traces the software&#39;s remarkable journey.</p><p>Created by legendary professor Randy Pausch, Alice began in 1995 as a Virtual Reality prototyping tool created for Pausch’s famed Building Virtual Worlds course. Lam shares how she first encountered Alice at CMU as a journalism graduate with no coding background, used it to tell a moving story in her very first week, and went on to design games at Activision and Electronic Arts before returning to steward Pausch&#39;s legacy back at CMU with the Alice Project.</p><p>The conversation follows Alice&#39;s evolution from CD-ROMs to free online access to Sims 2 character integration for better storytelling. Currently, Lam is leading a major interface update and exploring ways AI can make Alice even more accessible for students.</p><p>Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  For more, info visit: <a href="http://cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast"><u>cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast</u></a>.</p><p><strong>Explore more</strong></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.alice.org/"><u>Alice</u></a></p></li><li><p>Randy Pausch’s <a href="https://etc.cmu.edu/about/last-lecture"><u>The Last Lecture</u></a></p></li></ul>