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animated character tool within Toontalk - a mouse with a large red mallet. Bammer
runs out and bangs the 15 onto the 517. This joins the two numbers. The number in
the middle box changes to 532, a representation of the Ctrl key moving to the right.
The user can see both the mechanism of the rule and its outcome: the animated robot
picking up a number and placing it on top of the horizontal co-ordinates of the object,
the animated tool Bammer banging the number in place, and the sensor number co-
ordinates change.
Toontalk allows multimodal representation of a rule in several ways. It provides an
option for speaking text description of the rule. Multimodal representations of rules
as modular sub-behaviours are provided. The rule ‘move’ is an example of Toontalk
behaviour and is shown in figure 5.9.
Rule
The Toontalk program mode does not label ‘condition’ and ‘action’ through the
representation of elements. The sequential arrangement of the boxes and numbers as
‘rule’ on screen (see Figure 5.8) does however suggest the sequence of rule from left
to right. This is emphasised by the spoken text of the rule if the user selects it. The
movement of the robot and the Bammer tool serve to disrupt the linear arrangement
of the numbers and boxes. The multimodal and multi-directional elements on the
screen
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