I am currently studying and my next subject is 'Programming Using Alice'. Has anyone had any experience using this? And how would you rate it as a learning tool?
Yea, I used it in my AP Java 2 class back in high school. It was fun, though primitive (at that point, I was more interested in advancing my programming capabilites and didn't like ANYTHING that limited what I could do). It is a good learning tool for children and those who are just getting started in programming (i.e. have never programed in any language before). It teaches the basic concepts in a very visual way with immediate results. Its one very good feature is the 3d environment you get to explore. This makes it applicable even if you are developing your programming skills into something more. You can play around with it and make a fairly decent game; I would expect that a chess game is very possible!
In all, I think it is worth while learning if nothing else to say that you've done it. As it has been a while since I last used it, my response may be a bit dated and I apologize if there is something that I said that is no longer true.
Enjoy!