MS Research Releases Kodu Language and Grammar Specification

Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. The programming environment runs on the Xbox, allowing rapid design iteration using only a game controller for input.

The Kodu Language and Grammar Specification white paper is now available for download from Microsoft Research.

Kodu is a high-level, visual, and interpreted language. It is heavily inspired by robotics, and as such, each character and object in Kodu is programmed individually to interact with the world, much like intelligent agents.

The core of the Kodu project is the programming user interface. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Programs are composed of pages, which are broken down into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions. Conditions are evaluated simultaneously.

This language specification should serve as a reference for researchers and teachers who seek to learn or study Kodu as a
language. To make these resources more accessible to a broader audience, we have generated two different language descriptions. The rest is a basic language description, which provides the general structure and syntax of a Kodu pro-
gram. The second is an extension of the basic language that contains all the constructs implemented in the Kodu language.

For more information, see the Kodu page at Microsoft Research. Read the Kodu Language and Grammar Specification white paper.

Bruce D. KyleISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation