Scratch

Bluestribute wrote:

I was thinking of making a website for people who have Jens version of Scratch with arrays to share. But is Scratch v1.3 having arrays? Because that would be pointless. If you don't know how to upload without sharing here (because you can't with his) go here to see how (to create the HTML file, use a text editing application like Notepad or Textedit). The only reason I'm doing this is because his version gives Scratch a whole new meaning just by adding arrays. If you want it, go to his user page and click the project list, scroll right in the notes to get to the latest link, and click it. Thanks!

I haven't tried Jens' version of Scratch with arrays, but I will comment that the availability of arrays is extremely important so they should definitely be included in Scratch, along with the ability to create functions that receive parameters and return values.

More than anything else, it was probability the availability of arrays and functions (called subroutines in those days) that brought computer programming out of the dark ages of the forties and fifties into the renaissance of the late fifties and early sixties.

The next major improvement was probably structured programming and the elimination of spaghetti code in the sixties and early seventies.

The real giant step was object-oriented programming in the mid to late sixties, but that took several decades to catch on because it represented such a radically new way of thinking.

The next major improvement was the advent of the event-driven graphical user interface (GUI) in the nineties (or perhaps earlier).  However, it didn't become commercially viable until the nineties.

And we mustn't forget the influence of the Internet, the web, and the ability to incorporate most of the above into programming for online access.

Did I miss any of the major thresholds in the history of programming?

So, you might be wondering, what is the point of this post?  You are probably thinking that crazy old college professor is on a soapbox again!

The point is simply that there is a very long and sometimes difficult road between writing a game in Scratch and writing a major, marketable computer game, or a major scalable web application that will contribute to the profits of the company for which you work.  And the more that Scratch can be updated to include modern programming concepts, the more valuable it will be to you in making that journey.

But, if you keep expanding your knowledge of a variety of different programming technologies (C++, C#, Java, Python, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, etc.), and learning about physics, mathematics and business processes, even the youngest scratchers among you should be able to make that journey successfully.  Just don't get stuck in Scratch.  Learn everything that you can learn from Scratch (which is quite a lot), and then expand your horizons into more serious programming environments.

Last edited by dbal (2008-07-08 14:08:39)

Bluestribute wrote:

I probably would be learning Flash right now, but we don't have enough money (actually, I just think it's too expensive)

I don't know exactly what Adobe Flex is for (http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/), but:

- it is open source
- its development environment (Flex Builder) is free for students/teachers
- it allows you to use ActionScript 3
- it can create things such as what you can see at http://blogs.ilog.com/elixir/2008/02/05/clockwidget1/

If someone will gather some more information I would be happy to know more about it.

Bluestribute wrote:

I'm downloading it now. Looks awesome. Wow we get off topic 

Keep us posted if you are having fun with it!

I haven't looked at the site yet, but which subfolder do you click to get started? I have a Mac

That's what I get. It creates a folder, and this is inside

None of those exe's work

s_federici wrote:

Sorry Bluestribute, this looks completely different from what I can see in my installation folder. What is weird to me are the EXEs and BATs. They look like something that would fit in a Windows PC. But, as I said, I don't know much about MacOS.

Thanks anyways. I'll play around with it and try to find it.Too bad it's not like Scratch (or would it be Squeak?) where you click on the image file

Cyclone103 wrote:

Back on topic with teh array on a website thing,  I tried embedding my projects on my Freewebs, even though it was one with LISTS AND FILES and I got it.......mostly working. And by that, I mean I can see it on the site, but the actual project will not run for me. Still working out the coding there......

Well, I tried to get the upload thing (I don't PHP, which is what I was using) working, but I couldn't    Oh well, I just have a scrolling one that replays and reverses the action

BTW blues, Firefox hates your site! Every time I try to see it, it encounters an error and closes. I wish I could see it without my browser crashing........

mystery project

Bluestribute wrote:

Cyclone103 wrote:

although from what I have seen, I like it.

That's odd. Can it dtect keywords like Virus, because I put a "Virus Button" on it (It just displays it put a virus on your computer. Nothing actually happens)

No, it didn't like your music format. What was the quality of the music on it?

Bluestribute wrote:

Cyclone103 wrote:

Bluestribute wrote:

That's odd. Can it dtect keywords like Virus, because I put a "Virus Button" on it (It just displays it put a virus on your computer. Nothing actually happens)

No, it didn't like your music format. What was the quality of the music on it?

Really? Well, actually, I have the latest version of Firefox, and the general Freewebs site shuts it down. But odd, it's just from iTunes (don't know the format)

Freewebs works ok for me, but your site does not. I am using a Dell inspiron PC, I do not know the exact model. What are you using?