Scratch
archived forums
#1 2009-12-10 22:26:44
Two major flaws with Scratch
I haven't been using it that much, so I hope I'm wrong about these flaws:
1. There is an inability to use arrays or even save and load external files at runtime. This is quite essential to the way I program games.
2. There is no commenting your code! This is even more important than the last one and can help with example files.
There are more problems I have with Scratch, but these are the only real important problems.
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#2 2009-12-10 22:51:53
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
NotATaco wrote:
I haven't been using it that much, so I hope I'm wrong about these flaws:
1. There is an inability to use arrays or even save and load external files at runtime. This is quite essential to the way I program games.
2. There is no commenting your code! This is even more important than the last one and can help with example files.
There are more problems I have with Scratch, but these are the only real important problems.
Not sure about the first question. But you can comment your code--right click on the script section of the program, and select "comment."
Please leave a message at the beep.Steam: Hellephant
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#3 2009-12-10 22:58:38
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
You can also do arrays, see the "list" function. But I recently suggested a cfg, ini, or something like that capability in the Suggestions forum and got almost no responses. Crazy, eh?
aka Pain from DragonSpires, Delrith Online, BotBattle, Urban Dead etc etc lol
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#4 2009-12-10 23:19:45
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
NotATaco wrote:
1. There is an inability to use arrays or even save and load external files at runtime. This is quite essential to the way I program games.
Arrays are just called "lists" in scratch. But yeah, no saving/loading unfortunately 
NotATaco wrote:
2. There is no commenting your code! This is even more important than the last one and can help with example files.
Just right-click in the scripts area and select "add comment". You can even attach comments to blocks.
Scratch is pretty lacking in terms of features, obviously. But if you're an experienced programmer, you can make some amazing projects (just look at archmage's stuff).
I'm taking a break from Scratch until 2.0 comes out. Any messages sent between then and now probably won't be read - sorry.
(Oct. 20, 2011)
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#5 2009-12-11 07:05:47
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
hmnwilson wrote:
...But yeah, no saving/loading unfortunately
Yeah, there is, actually...
Right-click on the list and select export. Then you can export the contents of the list to a .txt file. Right-click and select import list and select that file, and the contents of that file will be put in the list.
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#6 2009-12-11 10:23:27
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
The-Whiz: In Runtime. 
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#7 2009-12-11 12:06:36
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
The biggest issues I have with scratch are:
1. Its dead slow. Stuff I code in flash takes about 80-90 less CPU power. Fairly basic scratch games take tons of ram and lots of CPU power. Putting music in game also makes lag much worse.
2.There is a built in waiting period for each block. This means that scratch must wait about 0.1 seconds before moving onto the next block and there is nothing you can do about it.
3. You can't duplicate sprites at runtime.
4. No multidimensional arrays.
5.No saving/loading from external files
Hi, I am Archmage coder extraordinaire. I do Scratch,pascal,java,php,html, AS2 and AS3. Leave me a message if you want coding advice. Also check out my personal website, lots of good stuff about web development, Flash, and Scratch (v1 and v2) !
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#8 2009-12-11 12:17:42
- RHY3756547
- Scratcher
- Registered: 2009-08-15
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
archmage wrote:
Its dead slow.
Agreed.
archmage wrote:
2.There is a built in waiting period for each block. This means that scratch must wait about 0.1 seconds before moving onto the next block and there is nothing you can do about it.
The waiting period only occurs when the end of a forever or repeat block is reached. The waiting period is 1/40th of a second.
Even when no repea blocks are used Scratch still buckles under strain.
Last edited by RHY3756547 (2009-12-11 12:27:00)
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#9 2009-12-11 12:20:18
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
archmage wrote:
The biggest issues I have with scratch are:
1. Its dead slow. Stuff I code in flash takes about 80-90 less CPU power. Fairly basic scratch games take tons of ram and lots of CPU power. Putting music in game also makes lag much worse.
2.There is a built in waiting period for each block. This means that scratch must wait about 0.1 seconds before moving onto the next block and there is nothing you can do about it.
3. You can't duplicate sprites at runtime.
4. No multidimensional arrays.
5.No saving/loading from external files
For number 2, theres a solution. Just make a new script on the sprite
Edit: Nevermind, that doesn't work either
Another thing wrong with Scratch is that in presentation mode it can only play one sound and the rest disappear
Last edited by Mr_X (2009-12-11 12:21:26)
The rules of the internet:1) Every woman is a man 2) Every man is a child 3) Every child is an FBI agent I have psychopathic tendencies. Be afraid
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#10 2009-12-12 13:45:43
Re: Two major flaws with Scratch
archmage wrote:
The biggest issues I have with scratch are:
1. Its dead slow. Stuff I code in flash takes about 80-90 less CPU power. Fairly basic scratch games take tons of ram and lots of CPU power. Putting music in game also makes lag much worse.
2.There is a built in waiting period for each block. This means that scratch must wait about 0.1 seconds before moving onto the next block and there is nothing you can do about it.
3. You can't duplicate sprites at runtime.
4. No multidimensional arrays.
5.No saving/loading from external files
I agree completely
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