Scratch 1.4: Beginner's Guide: Learn to Program While Creating Interactive Stories, Games, and Multimedia Projects Using Scratch - Brossura

Badger, Michael

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1847196764 ISBN 13: 9781847196767

Casa editrice: Packt Pub Ltd, 2009

Riassunto

If you have the imaginative power to design complex multimedia projects but can't adapt to programming languages, then Scratch 1.4: Beginner's Guide is the book for you. Imagine how good you'll feel when you drag-and-drop your way to interactive games, stories, graphic artwork, computer animations, and much more using Scratch even if you have never programmed before.

This book provides teachers, parents, and new programmers with a guided tour of Scratch's features by creating projects that can be shared, remixed, and improved upon in your own lesson plans. Soon you will be creating games, stories, and animations by snapping blocks of "code" together.

When you program you solve problems. In order to solve problems, you think, take action, and reflect upon your efforts. Scratch teaches you to program using a fun, accessible environment that's as easy as dragging and dropping blocks from one part of the screen to another.

In this book you will program games, stories, and animations using hands-on examples that get you thinking and tinkering. For each project, you start with a series of steps to build something. Then you pause to put our actions into context so that you can relate our code to the actions on Scratch's stage. Throughout each chapter, you'll encounter challenges that encourage you to experiment and learn.

One of the things you're really going to love is that, as you begin working through the examples in the book, you won't be able to stop your imagination and the ideas will stream as fast as you can think of them. Write them down. You'll quickly realize there are a lot of young minds in your home, classroom, or community group that could benefit from Scratch's friendly face. Teach them, please.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Micheal Badger is a technical communicator with a history of helping others to use their computer software and technology. For fun, Michael reads computer books and blogs about technology. When he finally decides to disconnect, he spends his spare time fishing, growing pigs, raising honeybees, and tending the family. Michael also wrote Zenoss Core Network and System Monitoring, a step-by-step guide to configuring the open source IT monitoring software application.

Contenuti:

Chapter 1 Introduction to Scratch – This chapter provides an overview of Scratch, its features, and how it can help you teach 21st century learning skills to your children and students.

Chapter 2 Install Scratch – In this chapter, we look at the installation procedure on each operating system and even learn how to run Scratch from your USB flash drive. We also make sure your web browser can view Java applets, which is the technology Scratch uses to publish projects on the Web.

Chapter 3 Start Scratching – In this chapter, we will explore the Scratch interface and create some simple scripts that demonstrate how easily we can build a project. This is a high-speed tour of Scratch that gets us tinkering and thinking about what's possible.

Chapter 4 Graphics and Slideshows – In this chapter, we will create an animated birthday card and a slideshow of our favorite photos.

Chapter 5 Language and Text – In this chapter, we horse around and develop a barnyard joke book that lets us narrate multiple scenes. There's no need to hold the applause.

Chapter 6 Arcade Games – In this chapter, we take a classic pong game and give it a little personality by adding a troll, switching levels, and keeping score.

Chapter 7 Games of Fortune – In this chapter, we combine what we know about variables with lists, also known as arrays. We use the lists to store information about our fortunes, and use random numbers to retrieve the data.

Chapter 8 Math and Finance – In this chapter, we use mathematical formulas and graphs to help answer the question, "Would you rather have a dollar that doubles every day or a lump sum of money?" The answer may surprise you.

Chapter 9 Share your Work – In this chapter, share your project with the Scratch community and learn how to promote it to you friends and fans.

Chapter 10 Connect a PicoBoard – In this chapter, the PicoBoard connects an external sensor board to our computer and delivers real-world stimuli as input to Scratch projects.

Appendix A Scratch Resources – This Appendix provides a select list of Scratch resources on the Web.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Packt Pub Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1847196764
• ISBN 13: 9781847196767
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 246