Programming in scratch was quite interesting, first and foremost I have never programmed an animation before and my experience with program language is rooted in Visual Studio mainly utilizing JavaScript or C++. I understood the fundamentals of the input to output based project layout but being bound to the specific functions that were available for selection made me begin to plug and play with the various options for some time. After about a 30-minute trial and error run of finding a general understanding of my left and right capabilities within scratch I settled into what I was going to develop. Though somewhat rudimentary I created a simple maze type game which I enjoyed building and discovering faster means of creating the project throughout my period of making it. I think the biggest insight I gained from using scratch was that I was not aware such a capability existed online to create coded animations through an MIT funded site like this that makes one critically think even though it is geared primarily towards children. From the 3 languages discussed in the textbook, I enjoyed Scratch a bit more just because of the overall final output I received was fun and validating. Also, utilizing Scratch albeit at first, I did have to play with it to understand, it was quite straight forward and an easy concept to grasp to create the desired outputs from the input selections given. The largest difference I could see between Scratch and Python is the variables in the given functions though both are quite easy to learn and understand with time and practice, the straightforward nature of Scratch makes it less intimidating for those interested in an easy to learn and fun output driven programming language. I think the block-based language of scratch is much easier to use especially for creating quick and fun animations though, Python is an extremely important language and is used regularly for computing. Data analytics and task automation it is the backbone language for a lot of applications we utilize daily.
References
Vahid, F., Lysecky, S., Wheatland, N., & Siu, R. (2015). TEC 101: Fundamentals of Information Technology & Literacy (7th ed., Vol. 1). zyBooks.
Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, November 12). Scratch (programming language). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)
Vinayakumar, R., Soman, K., & Menon, P. (2018). Fractal Geometry: Enhancing Computational Thinking with MIT Scratch. 2018 9th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT), Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT), 2018 9th International Conference On, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCNT.2018.8494172
The blog post provides an accurate and engaging overview of programming in Scratch, highlighting its beginner-friendly, block-based design and its value for creating simple animations and games. The comparison to Python and JavaScript effectively demonstrates the differences in complexity and applications, though clarifying that Scratch is also widely used as a teaching tool for learners of all ages would add depth. Including specific examples of the blocks used in the maze game would enhance understanding. Your post is logical, beginning with personal experience, progressing to insights gained, and concluding with comparisons. Excellent work incorporating a game into your post! I honestly don’t have any critiques or suggestions for improvement. Great job! Overall, your blog post successfully communicates the ease and enjoyment of using Scratch and provides valuable insights into programming.
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