Tote

Tote makes programming look less like typing instructions and more like arranging ingredients. Draw symbols, place them in a bag, define which combinations turn into which others, and step through the resulting chain of transformations.

What is Tote?

The screen is divided into a symbol panel, a rule area, and the bag that holds the current state. Drag a few marks into a rule's left side, choose what should replace them on the right, then press the squiggly evaluation control and watch the recipe fire. Rules can also react to clicks, collisions, or timers, while the symbol editor lets you draw a vocabulary of your own. The underlying idea is multiset rewriting, but Tote gives it the manners of a tabletop experiment: handfuls of tokens, simple substitutions, and surprisingly elaborate behavior emerging from the pile.

What you can do there

• Draw and arrange symbols
• Build visual rewrite rules
• Step through transformations in a bag
• Experiment with timers, clicks, and drag triggers

Why we picked it

Tote turns an abstract programming model into something you can poke, sort, and redraw. The reward is not a finished app so much as the click of understanding when a few innocent-looking rules become arithmetic, a loop, or a calculator assembled from shapes.

How to get the most from it

Start with the documented subtraction example rather than a blank masterpiece. Drag symbols from the left panel into the middle rule slots and the bag on the right. Press the squiggly button in the lower-right corner one step at a time, then open a symbol in the panel to try custom shapes, anchors, or triggers.

Good to know

Tote runs in the browser and offers an 8.7 kB version 17 ROM as a name-your-own-price download. The official Pocket Rewriting page provides examples for subtraction, loops, conditionals, and FizzBuzz. Expect a learning curve: the interface is deliberately unlike ordinary text coding, current save and sharing behavior was not verified, and Site Stumble cannot embed the page under its present frame policy.

Who made it, and when?

Hundred Rabbits is the credited creator or organization. A documented update was recorded September 17, 2026.