Coding For Kids For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started 5 Chapter 1: What Is Coding? 7 What Languages Will I Use? 8 What Does a Computer Program Look Like? 9 A Hello World! Example 10 Recipe for a Program 11 Planning a Program 13 Prepping Yourself to Code 15 Coding Cool Stuff 16 Chapter 2: Working with Programming Languages and IDEs 18 Basic IDE Setup and Navigation 19 Adding Hardware 33 Getting Fancier with User Interfaces 36 Chapter 3: When Things Go Wrong 40 Syntax Errors 41 Logic Errors 42 Debugging Scratch Programs 43 Debugging App Lab Programs 45 Debugging MakeCode Programs 49 Commenting Out Code when Debugging 51 Part 2: Sounds, Color, Random Surprises 53 Chapter 4: Orchestra 55 Brainstorm 56 Sidebar: Event-driven programming 56 Start a New Project 57 Add a Backdrop 58 Add Instrument Sprites 59 Add a Singer Sprite and Modify Its Costume 61 Code Each Instrument to Play a Sound 63 Sidebar: Parallel processing 67 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 67 Share Your Program with the World 68 Enhance Your Toy 68 Chapter 5: Foley Sound Generator 69 Brainstorm 69 Sidebar: User Interfaces 70 Start a New Project 71 Add a Background 72 Add Sound and Stop Sounds Buttons 75 Code the Sound Buttons to Play 78 Code the Stop Sounds Button to Stop Sounds 80 Save, Test, and Debug Your App 82 Share Your App with the World 82 Enhance Your App 82 Chapter 6: Lucky Numbers 83 Brainstorm 84 Start a New Project 85 Code Button A 85 Sidebar: Coding Randomness 87 Code Button B 87 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 89 Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 89 Share Your Program with the World 90 Enhance Your Toy 90 Chapter 7: Mondrian Art Toy 91 Brainstorm 92 Start a New Project 92 Add a Background Color 93 Sidebar: RGBA Color 95 Add a Title Label 96 Add Fill and Clear Buttons 97 Code a Canvas and Paintbrush 99 Code to Draw a Rectangle 101 Code to Fill Rectangles with Color 102 Code a Clear Button to Erase a Painting 103 Save, Test, and Debug Your App 105 Share Your App with the World 105 Enhance Your App 106 Part 3: Moving from Here to There, Again and Again 107 Chapter 8: Emoji Explosion 109 Brainstorm 110 Start a New Project 110 Add a Backdrop 110 Add an Emoji Sprite 111 Code the Stage to Play a Sound 113 Code the Green Flag for the Emoji Sprite 115 Sidebar: Cloning and Inheritance 116 Code the makeEmojis Block 118 Code when I start as a clone for the Emoji Sprite 119 Code the explode Block for the Emoji Clones 121 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 123 Share Your Program with the World 124 Enhance Your Animated Scene 124 Sidebar: Setting Position 124 Sidebar: Setting Direction 127 Sidebar: Moving 129 Sidebar: Simple Repeat Loops 130 Sidebar: New Blocks (aka Functions) 131 Chapter 9: Smelephant 133 Brainstorm 134 Start a New Project 134 Add a Backdrop 134 Add a Smelephant Sprite 135 Sidebar: Rotation Style in Scratch 137 Code the Green Flag Code of the Smelephant 138 Code the Smelephant’s Up Arrow Key Control 139 Sidebar: Animating Shapes 141 Code Arrow Keys for Moving the Smelephant Down, Left, and Right 144 Add a Flower Sprite 145 Code the Green Flag for the Flower Sprite 147 Code the makeFlowers Block 148 Code when I start as a clone for the Flower Sprite 150 Code the getSmelled Block for the Flower Clones 151 Add a Monkey Sprite 153 Code the Green Flag for the Monkey 154 Code the chase Block 155 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 158 Share Your Program with the World 158 Enhance Your Animated Scene 158 Sidebar: Key Control 159 Sidebar: Collisions 160 Sidebar: Show and Hide 162 Part 4: Variables, Simple Conditionals, and I/O 163 Chapter 10: Mascot Greeter 165 Brainstorm 166 Start a New Project 166 Sidebar: Inputs and Outputs (I/O) 167 Add a Backdrop 168 Add a Mascot Sprite 168 Add Text-to-Speech Commands 169 Sidebar: Strings and String Operations 170 Code the Mascot Sprite to Greet 171 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 173 Share Your Program with the World 173 Enhance Your Program 173 Chapter 11: Weird Text Message 174 Brainstorm 175 Start a New Project 175 Name the Input Screen for the App 176 Add a Background Color to the Input Screen 176 Add an Instruction Label 177 Add Category Labels and Text Input Fields 178 Add a Button to Trigger the Action 181 Add and Name an Output Screen 183 Add a Message Image to the Output Screen 183 Add a Message Label to the Output Screen 185 Code the App 186 Save, Test, and Debug Your App 188 Share Your App with the World 189 Enhance Your App 189 Sidebar: Dilbert’s Jargonator 190 Sidebar: ELIZA, the Turing Test, and AI 191 Chapter 12: Vote Machine 192 Brainstorm 193 Start a New Project 193 Rename the Screen 194 Add a Title Label to the App 194 Add Images for the Candidates 195 Add Labels for Each Candidate 197 Code Variables for the First Candidate 198 Code the First Candidate to Register a Vote 199 Sidebar: Working with Number Variables 200 Code Variables for the Remaining Candidates 204 Sidebar: Changing and Incrementing Variable Values 205 Code Remaining Candidates to Register Votes 206 Save, Test, and Debug Your App 207 Share Your App with the World 208 Enhance Your App 208 Chapter 13: Happy New Year! 209 Brainstorm 210 Start a New Project 210 Add a Backdrop 211 Add a Glittery Ball 211 Code the Ball to Drop 213 Create a Countdown Variable 214 Sidebar: Google Language Translation 217 Add Text-to-Speech and Translate Commands 217 Add a Cheer Sound to the Ball Sprite 218 Code the Countdown Clock 219 Sidebar: Decrementing a Variable 221 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 223 Sidebar: Simple Conditionals and Booleans 223 Share Your Program with the World 224 Enhance Your Toy 224 Chapter 14: Light Theremin 225 Brainstorm 226 Start a New Project 227 Code the First Sound Conditional 228 Code More Sound Conditionals 231 Sidebar: Advanced Conditionals 232 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 236 Sidebar: IoT and Sensors in Circuits 236 Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 237 Share Your Program with the World 238 Enhance Your Toy 238 Part 5: Lists, Loops, and Logic 239 Chapter 15: Magic 8-Ball 241 Brainstorm 242 Start a New Project 242 Code on start 243 Sidebar: Simple Lists (Arrays) 245 Code on shake 246 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 248 Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 249 Share Your Program with the World 249 Enhance Your Toy 249 Sidebar: eToys 250 Chapter 16: Sock Sort 252 Brainstorm 253 Start a New Project 253 Add a Backdrop 254 Add Red and White Sock Sprites 255 Add Mixed, Red, and White Lists 256 Code the Green Flag (Create List) 258 Code the clearLists Block 263 Code the Sorting Process 264 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 268 Share Your Program with the World 268 Enhance Your Program 268 Sidebar: Sorting Algorithms 269 Chapter 17: Evil Olive 272 Brainstorm 273 Start a New Project 273 Add a Background Image to the Screen 273 Add an Instruction Label 274 Add a Text Input Field 276 Create and Add Evil Olive to the Screen 277 Add a Message Label to the Screen 278 Code the App 279 Save, Test, and Debug Your App 282 Share Your App with the World 283 Enhance Your App 283 Sidebar: For Loops 284 Sidebar: Searching Algorithms 285 Chapter 18: Sushi Matchup 286 Brainstorm 287 Start a New Project 288 Draw a Toy Interface on the Backdrop 288 Add a Button Sprite 292 Add Reels Sprites 293 Add a Status Sprite 296 Code the Button to Trigger the Spin 299 Create wear Variables 302 Add Sounds 304 Code the Reels to Spin 306 Code the checkMatch Block 309 Code the status Sprite 314 Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 315 Share Your Program with the World 315 Enhance Your Program 316 Sidebar: Broadcasting 316 Sidebar: Logical Operators 317 Part 6: Onwards and Upwards 319 Chapter 19: Creating and Sharing 321 Programming Your Own Ideas 322 Sharing and Showcasing Your Work 325 Chapter 20: Where to Go from Here 336 Upping Your Game 337 Next Steps 340 Index 343