GCompris is a software suite comprising

educational entertainment Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entert ...

software for children aged 2 to 10. GCompris was originally written in C and

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (prog ...

using the

GTK+ GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary s ...

widget toolkit A widget toolkit, widget library, GUI toolkit, or UX library is a library (computing), library or a collection of libraries containing a set of graphical control elements (called ''widgets'') used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of ...

, but a rewrite in

C++ C++ (, pronounced "C plus plus" and sometimes abbreviated as CPP or CXX) is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. First released in 1985 as an extension of the C programmin ...

and

QML QML (Qt Meta-object Language) is a user interface markup language. It is a declarative language (similar to CSS and JSON) for designing user interface–centric applications. Inline JavaScript code handles imperative aspects. It is associate ...

using the Qt widget toolkit has been undertaken since early 2014. GCompris is

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

and the current version is subject to the requirements of the AGPL-3.0-only license. It has been part of the

GNU project The GNU Project ( ) is a free software, mass collaboration project announced by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983. Its goal is to give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and Computer hardware, computing dev ...

. The name GCompris is a

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

, in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

is pronounced the same as the phrase "I have understood", ''J'ai compris'' . It is available for

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), also known as Berkeley Unix or BSD Unix, is a discontinued Unix operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berkeley, beginni ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

. While binaries compiled for Microsoft Windows and macOS were initially distributed with a restricted number of activities and a small fee was required to unlock all the activities, since February 2020 the full version is entirely free for all platforms.

Extent

In 2024 GCompris comprised 190 games, called "activities". These are bundled into the following groups: * Computer discovery: keyboard, mouse, different mouse gestures * Numeracy: table memory, enumeration, double entry table, mirror images * Science: the canal lock, the water cycle, the submarine, electric simulations * Geography: place the country on the map * Games: chess, memory, connect 4, oware, sudoku * Reading: reading practice * Other: learn to tell time, puzzle of famous paintings, vector drawing, cartoon making

Development history

The first version of the game was made in 2000 by Bruno Coudoin, a French software engineer. Since the first release it was distributed freely on the Internet and was protected by the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

. The motivation behind the development was to provide native educational application for Linux. Since then, the software has seen continuous improvements, in terms of graphics and number of activities, thanks to the help of many developers and graphic artists joining the project over the years. There are two branches of GCompris; with released versions in each. The first, older of which is the GTK+ branch that contains 144 activities is now considered to be a legacy branch in maintenance mode, with no new development. The latest release of the GTK+ version is 15.10 of 18 October 2015. GCompris Administration

The newer branch of GCompris is completely rewritten using

Qt Quick Qt Quick is a free software application framework developed and maintained by the Qt Project within the Qt framework. It provides a way of building custom, highly dynamic graphical user interfaces with fluid transitions and effects, which are ...

. The current version is developed using

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

, QML and C++ languages.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gcompris 2000 software Children's educational video games Educational software for Linux Educational software for macOS Educational software for Windows Educational software that uses GTK Educational software that uses Qt Free and open-source Android software Free educational software Free learning support software GNOME Kids GNU Project software KDE Linux games Educational video games Open-source video games Software for children Software that uses QML Software that was ported from GTK to Qt