Scratch

jedidiahzhu · 2013-02-09 01:30:55

Hi guys, it's me. In school in our ICT classes we have been looking at another MIT language called AppInventor (appinventor.mit.edu). After a brief glance at it, it seems similar to Scratch. I was wondering if any of you guys knew if you can make more complex programs with it, like a platformer. As far as I have seen, you can make objects play sounds when touched, make labels pop up, etc. But I want to know whether you can make more complicated things, like games, with it. The difference between AppInventor and Scratch is that programs from Appinventor can be uploaded onto Androids, and played as Apps. So if I find that it can be used to make things, I might try programming some games onto Android.

So, I'm asking the Scratch community whether any of you have any experience with AppInventor, and whether any of you know much about it.

Thanks!

Zeusking19 · 2013-02-09 03:38:39

jedidiahzhu wrote:
Hi guys, it's me. In school in our ICT classes we have been looking at another MIT language called AppInventor (appinventor.mit.edu). After a brief glance at it, it seems similar to Scratch. I was wondering if any of you guys knew if you can make more complex programs with it, like a platformer. As far as I have seen, you can make objects play sounds when touched, make labels pop up, etc. But I want to know whether you can make more complicated things, like games, with it. The difference between AppInventor and Scratch is that programs from Appinventor can be uploaded onto Androids, and played as Apps. So if I find that it can be used to make things, I might try programming some games onto Android.

So, I'm asking the Scratch community whether any of you have any experience with AppInventor, and whether any of you know much about it.

Thanks!

AppInventor was originally made by Google itself, I guess you can do what you like, but there are obviously some limits.

Servine · 2013-02-09 06:29:18

jedidiahzhu wrote:
Hi guys, it's me. In school in our ICT classes we have been looking at another MIT language called AppInventor (appinventor.mit.edu). After a brief glance at it, it seems similar to Scratch. I was wondering if any of you guys knew if you can make more complex programs with it, like a platformer. As far as I have seen, you can make objects play sounds when touched, make labels pop up, etc. But I want to know whether you can make more complicated things, like games, with it. The difference between AppInventor and Scratch is that programs from Appinventor can be uploaded onto Androids, and played as Apps. So if I find that it can be used to make things, I might try programming some games onto Android.

So, I'm asking the Scratch community whether any of you have any experience with AppInventor, and whether any of you know much about it.

Thanks!

I use it, but I really recommend NOT to use it for any real coding. It cant do much, the filesize is WAY too big and you can't input any code. Just blocks.

jedidiahzhu · 2013-02-12 06:14:40

Zeusking19 wrote:
jedidiahzhu wrote:
Hi guys, it's me. In school in our ICT classes we have been looking at another MIT language called AppInventor (appinventor.mit.edu). After a brief glance at it, it seems similar to Scratch. I was wondering if any of you guys knew if you can make more complex programs with it, like a platformer. As far as I have seen, you can make objects play sounds when touched, make labels pop up, etc. But I want to know whether you can make more complicated things, like games, with it. The difference between AppInventor and Scratch is that programs from Appinventor can be uploaded onto Androids, and played as Apps. So if I find that it can be used to make things, I might try programming some games onto Android.

So, I'm asking the Scratch community whether any of you have any experience with AppInventor, and whether any of you know much about it.

Thanks!
AppInventor was originally made by Google itself, I guess you can do what you like, but there are obviously some limits.

I heard that it was originally made by Google (which is why you need a Google account to use it), but it was sold to MIT or something? smile

Seems more complex than Scratch and harder to download too. We spent an hour in our last lesson just downloading it. (Mainly because our computers in our school are very old and slow, but still. One kid was waited until the end of the lesson for her computer to load, and just as the lesson was ending it loaded, lol). I can't seem to do as many things with it as I can with Scratch.