Scratch

Welcome to the Advanced Topics
A jump-start into the ATs

This is meant to be a guide to new AT-ers, telling them what all we do around here. Feel free to contribute. 

Eventually, you will outgrow all the stuff you love — your favorite jeans, your stuffed Barney, etc. Similarly, after a while, it's logical that eventually we will outgrow Scratch. The Advanced Topics or ATs is a place where we go after we outgrow Scratch. It's a place where there's always something new and cool going on — BYOB, the Block Library, etc. It's like a lab, in a way, because it's a place where we experiment and learn, not just about Scratch and Squeak, but also try to improve the forum experience via JavaScript, PHP, and more. The stuff we do around here is awesome, as you will soon see, and has changed the world of Scratch many times. Ever seen a signature telling whether or not a user is online? It originated here. Ever wonder how people get a stretch block in Scratch 1.4? It was discovered in the Advanced Topics.
The stuff we do here can be divided up like this:

• Scratch Development
Here, we use the Scratch Source code to edit/create blocks, make new menus, add patches, etc. Mostly, we create new blocks. If you are interested, the ultimate block-making site is the Block Library.

• Modding
This isn't moderating the forums, it's modifying Scratch. Modifications can be distributed as stand-alone programs. Popular modifications include BYOB by Jens and bharvey, Panther by these people, Bingo by LS97, and Enchanting by clintonb. Scratch is modified by downloading the source code and editing it. To add features, you need to know Squeak Smalltalk.

• Website and webpage integration
This is a relatively new topic. Here, we try to integate Scratch to the website, or try to improve the website experience. Some breakthroughs we have had are:
• Self-updating links and images using PHP
• A forum like system
• A way to share images online without posting them to a site.
• Detecting when new projects are shared
• A web page which lets you create custom blocks with no programming knowledge
• A BBCode editool system (under development).
• A version of Scratch written completely inside HTML/JS, that runs in your browser.
This topic is just emerging, and is being developed beautifully.


• Advanced Scratch Programming
Yes, the ATs are also a place to share advanced Scratch programming. Scratch programs that use complex algorithms, or are breakthroughs in Scratch (ie a recursive engine, a chess engine, or a programming language within Scratch), deserve to be shared and discussed here. Sometimes, people integrate Scratch with other languages (The coolest example I can think of would be connecting it to AppleScript, to read the Gyroscopic sensor values of a MacBook Pro, for a balance game), connect it to the real world in cool ways (People have used Bluetooth to use a Wii remote or Kinect to control Scratch), or connect Scratch programs via Mesh (I've seen many chat programs). The idea is not to advertise, but to develop.

• Other languages
Yes, here you'll find questions, articles, tutorials, and clever applications of C, C#, C++, Objective-C, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, Prolog, Visual Basic, Basic, Squeak, PERL, MySQL, HTML, SHTML, XML, ASP and PHP. Only to mention a few. Knock yourself out.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. There is much, much more going on here. But please keep these things in mind:

The ATs Unsaid Rule Book [actually, a few quotes that are appropriate here  ]:

• Sharing knowledge makes you more popular than having knowledge. Don't keep what you know to yourself, share it and make the community richer.

• 90% of the people who you help will help you someday; and the remaining 10% haven't read the first point. So spend 2 minutes every day answering another post if you can.

• Ask for help if you need it. Trust me, it doesn't make you look weird. And some of the best minds around here will fall over each other to help you out. I once asked how to make the    smiley, and got ten replies.

• Correct people if they are wrong (politely!), and don't be offended if you're corrected. That's how you learn. (Contributed by sparks)

• Try searching for something before you ask for help. It can spare other ATers some time. (Contributed by rookwood101)
AT experts, please add to this!

The ATs are a place to develop Scratch as high as it goes, to stretch it to its limits, and learn. So welcome to one of the coolest places on Scratch!

-Hardmath123

Last edited by Hardmath123 (2011-10-16 08:11:43)