Elements of Coding
There will always be new programming languages to learn. Case in point: Apple announcement about a year ago that it was releasing its own programming language for creating apps. An important skill we are learning and practicing in this course is HOW to learn a new programming language!
This is our process...
1) Play a variety of games written in the language you want to learn.
2) Check out the resources available to you for this language. Websites, forums, books, tutorials.
3) Take a simple sample game written in this language and use it as a template/starting point for your first game.
4) Look for the elements shared by most coding languages. How does this language handle iterations, conditionals, and variables?
5) Have others beta test your game and give you feedback on how you can make it better.
6) Share your game with the world.
7) Make another game. Look at the code of more complex games written in this language, watch tutorials, experiment with code! Use what you learn to make your next game more interesting and fun to play.
As we start to learn a new language, we look for elements that are common to most all programming languages, such as:
ITERATIONS: Iteration is repetition, Iteration is repetition, Iteration is repetition, Iteration is repetition, ... You get the idea. Look for how a language allows you to repeat the same command or instruction.
Examples: Inform has a 'repeat' command & SCRATCH has these two different repeat blocks:
This is our process...
1) Play a variety of games written in the language you want to learn.
2) Check out the resources available to you for this language. Websites, forums, books, tutorials.
3) Take a simple sample game written in this language and use it as a template/starting point for your first game.
4) Look for the elements shared by most coding languages. How does this language handle iterations, conditionals, and variables?
5) Have others beta test your game and give you feedback on how you can make it better.
6) Share your game with the world.
7) Make another game. Look at the code of more complex games written in this language, watch tutorials, experiment with code! Use what you learn to make your next game more interesting and fun to play.
As we start to learn a new language, we look for elements that are common to most all programming languages, such as:
ITERATIONS: Iteration is repetition, Iteration is repetition, Iteration is repetition, Iteration is repetition, ... You get the idea. Look for how a language allows you to repeat the same command or instruction.
Examples: Inform has a 'repeat' command & SCRATCH has these two different repeat blocks:
VARIABLES: A variable is a value that changes. We can use variables in game design to keep track of scores, player health, items, and many other things.
CONDITIONALS: Conditionals are everywhere in code. They check a condition such as if the player is carrying a certain item, and then carry out certain actions depending on whether the condition is true or not true. Conditionals can appear in code as if...else, if...otherwise, if...then, or other variations depending on the language used.
CONDITIONALS: Conditionals are everywhere in code. They check a condition such as if the player is carrying a certain item, and then carry out certain actions depending on whether the condition is true or not true. Conditionals can appear in code as if...else, if...otherwise, if...then, or other variations depending on the language used.