Scratch

Yes, there are thousands of blocks I can think of that would help improve Scratch. But with NetScratch on the way (web.media.mit.edu/~tstern/netscratch/index.html), there are just a few things that we're missing before Scratch can be counted as a useful programming language:

New variable types: strings and arrays. This is the complaint of millions on this site, and I want to put it down just one more time.

           Put [cheese] in favoritefood
           [left (3) of favoritefood] (produces first 3 letters of favoritefood)
           say [Well, I've got some [favoritefood] in the fridge]
(Strings would require a new textbox input type, added to the slider and readout)
           set my x list (38) to x: x position y: y position
           sort my x list [alphabetically, a>z]
           delete empty spaces in mylist
(A new readout type like the Scratchboard watcher's would be nice for arrays)

A morph block that lets you apply skew effects to sprites.

         
Communitcation with operating system: New blocks like the following
       
           Record sound for 5 seconds as "mysound"
           Ask where to save "mysound"
           Take picture as "cheese"
           Open a [picture] file as one of my costumes
           Take a picture of the project as "image"
           (time [seconds v])
           Go to [www.[sitename].com]
Ability to hide/show variable displays:
           
            Show variable at x:33 y:140
            Hide variable's display
            Switch variable to (slider/display/readout/textbox/list)

Greater control over the pen tool:
             
            Clear my pen
            Eraser down
            Eraser up
            (color [  ]) block: when shown in variable boxes it would read out as a 9-digit RGB code.

Dynamic sprite duplication:
            Copy me
            (my clone #)
            Destroy me
  and on the stage:
            Destroy copies ( ) through ( ) of [sprite 1]

Some increased movement functionality:
            Set my rotation center to x: 21 y: 162
            Point away from [stage]
            (direction from [sprite1])

I love the way you can select costumes and sounds with variables, but I think it would be great if you could use wherever there is a dropdown menu on a block, like on broadcast and go to sprite blocks.

Right-click sensing

"Pause Sound" and "Go to position (   ) in sound" blocks         

A "stop sprite" block

Add alt, delete, and shift (maybe enter) to list of useable keys

Well, it's not exactly a few things, but to see these implemented slowly or even thorugh a "New Block of the Week Club" for advanced Scratchers would be great.

Feel free to add your own suggestions to this (hopefully) ultimate list!

Last edited by fullmoon (2008-03-25 21:56:45)