Getting Started with Coding

Camille McCue, PhD, is a STEM educator who loves teaching computer science, math, engineering, and physics to learners ranging from kindergarteners to graduate students. She works for organizations including NASA, PBS, independent schools, and Project Lead The Way.

• Introduction 2About This Book 2What's New in the Second Edition 4About You 5About the Icons 6Project 1: Get Started 7Coding QuickStart 7A Hello World! example 8What's an algorithm? 9Sequence, selection, and repetition .10Flowcharting 11Picking a Language 12Using a Dashboard (IDE) 13Setting Up Your Account in Scratch 14Getting Around in Scratch 15Using the Code Tab in Scratch 18Getting Around in MakeCode 20Using the Code Toolbox in MakeCode 23Fixing Errors 24Debugging in Scratch .25Debugging in MakeCode .27Getting Help 28Project 2: Jungle Chat 29Brainstorm 30Flowchart 30Start a New Project 31Add a Backdrop 32Add Animal Sprites 33Add Text-to-Speech Commands 36Code the Monkey to Run When Clicked 36Code the Monkey to Ask the User’s Name 38Make and Give the Greeting 39Code the Monkey to Play a Sound 40Code the Snake to Play a Sound You Record 41Code the Toucan to Play a Sound from theSound Library 43Enhance Your Scene 45Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 46Share Your Program with the World 46Big Ideas in the Project 46Project 3: Freeze the Pops 48Brainstorm 49Flowchart 49Start a New Project 51Make a Variable 52Code Button A to Measure and Showthe Temperature 53Continue Coding Button A to Show If thePops Are Frozen 56Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 59Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 60Put Your micro:bit in the Freezer 60Enhance Your Gadget 61Big Ideas in the Project 62Project 4: Jellyfi sh Jumble 64Brainstorm 65Flowcharts 65Start a New Project 67Add a Backdrop 67Add a Jellyfi sh Sprite and Custom Costumes 68Make a Mr Jelly Sprite and a Fake Sprite 70Code the Green Flag Blocks 73Background .73Mr Jelly .74Fake and the fakers .75Code the Faker Clones to Swish 77Code Mr Jelly to Know He’s Been Found 78Enhance Your Scene 79Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 81Share Your Program with the World 81Big Ideas in the Project 81Project 5: Card War 83Brainstorm 84Flowcharts 84Start a New Project 85Make a Variable 87Code on shake to Make and Send Your Number 88Code an on radio received Block to Identify a Winner 90Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 97Transfer Your Program to the micro:bit 99Enhance Your Gadget 99Big Ideas in the Project 100Project 6: Avoid the Asteroids 102Brainstorm 103Flowcharts 103Green fl ag fl owchart 104Robot fl owchart 105Start a New Project 106Add Three Backdrops 106Add a Robot Sprite 108Add an Asteroid Sprite 110Make Dents and Timer Variables 112Add Background Music from the Sound Library 113Code the Green Flag Blocks 114Background 114Robot 117Asteroids 122Build Your Asteroid Field 125Code Key Control of the Robot 126Enhance Your Scene 127Save, Test, and Debug Your Program 128Share Your Program with the World 128Big Ideas in the Project 128Project 7: Get Fancy 131Programming Your Own Ideas 132Getting inspiration from Scratchers 132Getting inspiration from MakeCode projects 134Looking at daily human challenges 134Entering some contests 135Getting Your Scratch Programs into the World 135Sharing a project in Scratch 135Starting your own Scratch studio 136Making Your Gadgets Real 137Putting a program on the micro:bit board 137Adding more hardware 139Upping Your Game 140At-home learning 140Camps and clubs 140Books 141Souping Up User Interfaces in Scratch 142Painting your own images 142Finding images online 143Recording your own sounds 144Finding sounds online 144Next Steps 145Coding at school 145Coding in college 145Coding as a career 146