THE STORY SO FAR
A little more possible.
What changed, what improved, and what you can make next.
2026-10-12
Sparky 3.0
Little ideas. Real code.
- Thirty lessons, projects, games, music, Python and Arduino in one native app.
- A refreshed Home with signed news and featured projects you can remix offline.
- Faster startup: optional side panels load only when you open them.
- Console colors and icons for questions, answers, errors and program output.
- Activity badges, gentle motion and friendly empty screens; Reduce Motion stays in control.
- New app icons and installers, file associations, and a portable Windows ZIP.
- A new website, searchable reference, teacher guide and shareable browser playground.
2026-10-11
Sparky 3.0 alpha 5
Make music, get hints and code together
- Songs, chords, five instruments, tempo and rests, with a piano and 27 sounds.
- AI hints, challenges and plans, per-project chats and a preview before inserting code.
- See exactly what gets sent to AI; use local providers or more compatible presets.
- Real Sparky extension commands, three packs and a signed featured catalog.
- Preview themes, choose fonts and mascot colors, and share preferences without keys.
- Readable text, color-blind syntax, a thicker cursor, read aloud and a left-handed layout.
- Hindi and Telugu core controls in beta; lessons and command words stay in English.
- Teacher PIN, offline restrictions, checked assignments and named hand-in ZIPs.
- Local time on task, optional break reminders and an offline teacher guide.
2026-10-10
Sparky 3.0 alpha 4
Five worlds to learn, and a home for your creations
- Thirty offline lessons with challenges, three hints, stars and world certificates.
- Daily challenges, bug hunts, quizzes, achievements and progress reports.
- A searchable reference, glossary, line explanations and a side-by-side Python track.
- Fifty examples, six project templates and replay for individual tour parts.
- Projects on Home with thumbnails, rename, duplicate and move to Trash.
- Autosave, crash recovery and saved versions that preserve your newer work.
- Project bundles include code, images and sounds; the Assets panel helps you use them.
- Share cards and Make an App with your name, icon and fullscreen player.
2026-10-10
Sparky 3.0 alpha 3
An editor that helps, and a debugger you can see
- Auto end, closing pairs, live error marks, hover help and completion with docs.
- Drag numbers, pick colors, rename names, format code and fold blocks.
- Outline, bookmarks, split editor, minimap, Zen mode and Find in all files.
- Live mode re-runs drawings while you type; export colored code as HTML.
- Breakpoints, live variables, call stack and watch expressions in the Debug panel.
- Run selected lines, filter the console, follow errors to lessons and replay drawings.
- Run history, timing, fading line trails and a hint for loops that never wait.
- The interactive tour now shows you the Debug panel.
2026-10-09
Sparky 3.0 alpha 2
Games, shapes, records — and Arduino
- Many sprites with emoji costumes, plus when key pressed, when clicked and broadcast.
- Shapes, fills, dashed and rainbow pens, backdrops, thought bubbles and speak.
- Text with {names} inside, records, ask with buttons, try / oops, save and load.
- Record the stage as an animated GIF, or save it as a PNG or SVG.
- Sparky works like the Arduino IDE: boards, Upload, Serial Monitor and Plotter.
- Sparky for Arduino: write pin 13 on and upload it to a real board.
- Friendlier errors that show what you wrote and what to try.
2026-10-08
Sparky 3.0 alpha 1
A whole new look, and updates that install themselves
- Spark 3 design: new fonts, icons, colors and a Home screen.
- Four themes: Daylight, Midnight, Candy and High Contrast.
- Pause and Step through your program one line at a time.
- Stage tools: grid, snapshot to PNG, fullscreen.
- An interactive tour that shows you around.
- Signed over-the-air updates with automatic rollback.
- Kid mode and Pro mode, a native menu bar, and toasts.