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#1 2009-07-21 02:38:19

MotiB
Scratcher
Registered: 2008-07-30
Posts: 16

Programming error not reported during execution!

Hi,

I recently spent quite some time debugging a Scratch program: I made a small change to the name of a costume but I didn't change a "switch to costume" block with that name. Scratch simply executed the instruction and did nothing :-(.

Sorry, but I don't understand this design. Preferably, a change in a costume name is automatically propagated to blocks that use the name. If, for some reason, you don't want to do this, the error should be reported. It shouldn't be a problem to stop the scripts and have the sprite "say": "Sorry, you asked me to switch to costume X but I couldn't find it".

I'm wondering where else illegal instructions are treated as "noops"!

Moti

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#2 2009-07-21 05:21:44

filo5
Scratcher
Registered: 2008-01-08
Posts: 1000+

Re: Programming error not reported during execution!

... Yes... When I changed sound name, Scratch executed command with no error, and sound didn't play. It's just a quirk.


Converting my Scratch projects to Python!

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#3 2009-07-21 07:25:21

MotiB
Scratcher
Registered: 2008-07-30
Posts: 16

Re: Programming error not reported during execution!

Hi,

People have "quirks" ... programs are designed and implemented!

My guess is that this is a design decision on the part of the Scratch developers, and I further speculate that the reason is that they don't want to have error messages -- ever. However, I regard this design as seriously flawed. I have 43 years experience and it still took me at least half an hour to debug. How is such a bug going to affect a young kid??!! It will probably turn him/her off programming forever :-(

Therefore, I am requesting that the developers reconsider this decision.

Moti

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