Google has released a new piece of software called App Inventor that allows lay users to create relatively complex mobile applications for the Android platform. According to a blog posted on Google's website, the new system will allow users who don't know a shred of programming to create apps by dragging and dropping commonly used "blocks" of Java code into a template.
App Inventor allows users to create apps that are sophisticated enough that they can store data created by users in a database. Users also can create apps that use GPS location information and automatically send text messages.
The blocks editor uses the Open Blocks Java library for creating visual blocks programming languages. Open Blocks is distributed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Scheller Teacher Education Program and derives from thesis research by Ricarose Roque. Open Blocks visual programming is closely related to the Scratch programming language, a project of the MIT Media Laboratory's Lifelong Kindergarten Group.
The compiler that translates the visual blocks language for implementation on Android uses the Kawa Language Framework and Kawa's dialect of the Scheme programming language, developed by Per Bothner and distributed as part of the Gnu Operating System by the Free Software Foundation.
See the video below for a demonstration of App Inventor for Android: