Greenfoot teaches object orientation with Java. Create 'actors' which live in 'worlds' to build games, simulations, and other graphical programs.

Greenfoot is visual and interactive. Visualisation and interaction tools are built into the environment.

The actors are programmed in standard textual Java code, providing a combination of programming experience in a traditional text-based language with visual execution.

The interface is a full IDE which includes project management, auto-completion, syntax highlighting, and other tools common to most IDEs. It also allows you to publish your work both on and offline.

However the interface is designed to be simple and easy to use; built with beginners in mind.

Greenfoot is used by thousands of institutions around the world. It provides easy transition into other environments, such as BlueJ and more professional IDEs.

Greenfoot programs are written in standard Java, one of the primary languages in academia and industry. Concepts learned transfer directly to programming in subsequent environments.

Greenfoot makes the environment easy enough to use for beginners, and Java makes it powerful enough to write impressive, flexible and sophisticated applications.

Greenfoot is a project in the Programming Education Tools Group, part of the Computing Education Research Group at the School of Computing, University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. The Greenfoot Team currently includes Michael Kölling, Ian Utting, Davin McCall, Neil Brown, Philip Stevens and Michael Berry. A related project developed by our group is BlueJ.