Scratch

bharvey wrote:

jurk wrote:

like just a quick won with just forms and a home page.

The trouble isn't with writing the software -- we'd just steal the Scratch site software!  The trouble is with policing the site, the whole mechanism of flagging projects, and community moderators, and picking featured projects -- the Scratch Team put a huge effort into it that we couldn't match.

you are right    but it would still be cool.

14God wrote:

I have a "problem". I can't imagine myself doing anything but programming. Now I can't concentrate on any subject in school that doesn't have to do with programming. Other people expect me to pay attention to other subjects that I just don't care about. My Aunt and sister have an especially negative opinion of what I want to do, they label it as 'unimportant' and 'a waste of time'.

I like what this dude says: School kills creativity

I don't know... I think programming is a hobby, not a career. It's like telling your math teacher to give you a free sports period instead because you want to be a soccer player and math feels like a waste of time.

14God wrote:

Now I can't concentrate on any subject in school that doesn't have to do with programming. My Aunt and sister have an especially negative opinion of what I want to do, they label it as 'unimportant' and 'a waste of time'.

Your aunt and sister are wrong, of course; programming is just as good as anything else, especially from the get-a-job point of view.

Still, that doesn't mean everything else is pointless or dull.  Math, for example, is awe-inspiringly beautiful.  (If you don't like math at school, that's school's fault, not math's.)  Even history (I'm guessing that's pretty low on your priority list) can be fascinating once you're not taking tests about dates and kings.  Try reading, for example, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond or 1491 by Charles Mann.  (Yeah, that's a date, but you don't have to memorize it.  )

You can tell your adults that getting into an intense focus on one area of interest is developmentally appropriate for high school aged people.  It's a tactical problem -- somehow you do have to satisfy the school, because you don't want to lock yourself out of college -- but not a Worry.

Try making a schedule, setting aside a specific time for homework.  Also, try getting the homework done in school instead of bringing it home.

P.S.  With a little creativity you can find a connection between almost anything and computers.  Do a history report on Charles Babbage's early attempts to invent the computer, or Herman Hollerith and the US Census, or how IBM helped the Nazis keep track of German Jews, or how Alan Turing won World War II by cracking the Enigma code with a very early computer.  Or how Aristotle's formalization of logic grew into Boolean algebra and computer circuitry.  Read novels in which computers play an important role.  Study famous artists who use computer graphics.

Last edited by bharvey (2011-11-29 11:57:56)

bharvey wrote:

shadow_7283 wrote:

That DEFINITELY explains the 100,000+ Microsoft employees worldwide.

Of course, that's probably two programmers and 99,998 patent lawyers. 

Lolz. 

rubiks_cube_guy238 wrote:

shadow_7283 wrote:

Programming isn't a career? That DEFINITELY explains the 100,000+ Microsoft employees worldwide. In addition, the United States claims there are 1,336,300 programmers in our nation.

Now we only need 700 more...

s0 7r|_||=

bharvey wrote:

Of course, that's probably two programmers and 99,998 patent lawyers. 

Are you sure you aren't talking about Apple? 

Last edited by shadow_7283 (2011-11-29 17:51:39)

14God wrote:

language is pretty relevant too... but English is a cruddy language when it comes to reliable meanings which is frustrating.

Long ago I read a science fiction story called "The Language of Love" in which a young man wants to tell his girlfriend how much he loves her, but can't quite find the perfect words.  Eventually he learns of a scholar who invented a precise way to express degrees of love, but who since mysteriously became a hermit on an obscure planet.  So our hero seeks out the love-language expert, who at first won't talk to him, but eventually takes him on as an apprentice.  He spends 20 years with this guy, meanwhile sending his girlfriend messages about how any day now he'll be able to tell her how much he loves her.  Finally he gets home, she's all excited, so is he -- he looks her over, and says "I am rather fond of you."  They break up.  Eventually he does get married, having found a woman for whom he feels "quite a substantial liking."

The moral of the story is that if you're 16 you can probably think of situations in which you'd find English more useful than Java.

History is rarely interesting (too much memorization) unless it is the history of technology

School is boring.  History is fascinating.  No memorization required.  You do have to like to read -- the History Channel is worse than useless.

I used to have a broader spectrum but now that I'm 16 and I have been procrastinating for 2 years I need to start preparing for college. By procrastinating I mean I have waited till now to learn new languages and start on projects I've been wanting to do.

That's what you mean by preparing for college?  Interesting.

I mean, projects are good, but what do they have to do with college?  And you already know enough programming languages (i.e., more than one).

can we get back on topic (BYOB, Snap!)?

scratchr.org is run by MIT

bharvey wrote:

That's what you mean by preparing for college?  Interesting.

I mean, projects are good, but what do they have to do with college?  And you already know enough programming languages (i.e., more than one).

My uncle who is a programmer said I should be exposed to as many languages as I can. He also says I should always have a project that I'm working on. He never went to college though, but he did get a good education in the navy. He is an excellent programmer now so I generally trust his advice. I guess I should generalize it to preparing for a career, college being one of those preparations.

Last edited by 14God (2011-11-30 15:35:43)

nXIII wrote:

awesomesauce

Thanks. I think I have fixed it with this: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaSc … neProperty

I've got a question: what does 'morphic' actually mean? I know it relates to morphs which (I think) are like widgets, but is there something deeper? A quick Google gave a Wiki result. The Wikipedia page actually returned a link to your Morphic.js ( ), but there was nothing useful and explanatory.