Functional programming languages are seen by many as instrumental to effectively utilizing the computational power of multi-core platforms. As a result, there is growing interest to introduce functional programming and functional thinking as early as possible within the computer science curriculum. Bricklayer is an API, written in SML, that provides a set of abstractions for creating LEGO artifacts which can be viewed using LEGO Digital Designer. The goal of Bricklayer is to create a problem space (i.e., a set of LEGO artifacts) that is accessible and engaging to programmers (especially novice programmers) while providing an authentic introduction to the functional programming language SML.
@article{arxiv.1412.4881,
title = {Bricklayer: An Authentic Introduction to the Functional Programming Language SML},
author = {Victor Winter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.4881},
year = {2014}
}