Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children • Hacker News Board

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#131

Post by Retr0id » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:14 PM UTC

distcs wrote: post #127

Retr0id wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scratch also has variables, lists, if/else and looping control flow structures, and procedures (the main limitation, imho, being that procedures don't have scoped local variables and cannot return a value) It also has event-based concurrency.

Are they all available as tiles to be dragged and dropped? Or can I type it out too with a keyboard?

The former. If you want text, other languages are available.

If you really want to use a keyboard, Tosh exists, effectively acting as an alternative front-end for Scratch https://tosh.blob.codes/

If even using a keyboard is too much effort, I have a Python library for doing Scratch metaprogramming and code generation, with optional vscode integration: https://github.com/davidBuchanan314/boiga

I've used it to write non-trivial Scratch programs, such as X25519 key exchange with ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/714773326/

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#132

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:17 PM UTC

photochemsyn wrote: post #30

I'd imagine learning at least a little Python alongside Scratch would be more optimal than Scratch alone. It's like bilingual education, it has great benefits although individuals may gravitate towards a preferred option. Perhaps it's a bit like comparing Minecraft to Factorio: https://www.idtech.com/blog/scratch-vs-python Looking around, it also seems possible to set up your own Scratch server, which is comparable t…

[deleted]

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#133

Post by varun_ch » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:17 PM UTC

distcs wrote: post #127

Retr0id wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scratch also has variables, lists, if/else and looping control flow structures, and procedures (the main limitation, imho, being that procedures don't have scoped local variables and cannot return a value) It also has event-based concurrency.

Are they all available as tiles to be dragged and dropped? Or can I type it out too with a keyboard?

Not anything officially supported, but there are some community tools to do that, tosh[0] and Scratch Addons'[1] "Insert blocks by name" addon comes to mind

[0] https://tosh.blob.codes/ [1] https://scratchaddons.com/ (It's a browser extension chalk full of little enhancements for Scratch)

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#134

Post by irrational » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:20 PM UTC

I had no idea my son even knew scratch, but the other day I looked over his shoulder at his chromebook and was astonished to see him working on a huge scratch project. I asked if he had any other projects and he had dozens of projects, some incredibly complex. I was both surprised and pleased.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#135

Post by JamesSwift » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:21 PM UTC

Its a really good intro, but can become stifling really fast for young learners. You risk losing their interest too soon if they want to push past the boundaries.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#136

Post by JamesSwift » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:22 PM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #50

Folks here who used scratch with their kids, what is the next step after scratch? How did you introduce a language/platform to your kid? I have introduced python and my kid is able to pick it up, but am unable to come up with projects that sustain interest. It feels dry without UI and one shouldn't be doing web dev with python too. So what is the progression for python and kids?

Roblox could be good. The marketplace is such that you can drop them in and have them create practical things, while deciding how in the weeds of actual coding they want to get into.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#137

Post by moreati » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:26 PM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #50

Folks here who used scratch with their kids, what is the next step after scratch? How did you introduce a language/platform to your kid? I have introduced python and my kid is able to pick it up, but am unable to come up with projects that sustain interest. It feels dry without UI and one shouldn't be doing web dev with python too. So what is the progression for python and kids?

https://www.hedy.org/ is billed as an incremental bridge from Scratch to Python, with built in learning aids and teaching aids.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#138

Post by mkehrt » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:26 PM UTC

thesausageking wrote: post #101

My 8 yo loves Scratch. She's made over 30 apps with it and has had a great time. However, now that she's reached the limits of what it can do, I have been frustrated that there isn't a natural place for her to graduate to. And Scratch does get really limited quickly. There are unofficial forks like SheepTester's one which let you drop JavaScript into Scratch projects, but they're not easy to use. We've failed a few t…

Possibly Processing? or processing.js?

The Coding Train on youtube (run by Daniel Shiffman) (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjgXvBlbQiydffZU7m1_aw) has some great tutorials.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#139

Post by mkehrt » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

john-tells-all wrote: post #122

thesausageking wrote: post #101

My 8 yo loves Scratch. She's made over 30 apps with it and has had a great time. However, now that she's reached the limits of what it can do, I have been frustrated that there isn't a natural place for her to graduate to. And Scratch does get really limited quickly. There are unofficial forks like SheepTester's one which let you drop JavaScript into Scratch projects, but they're not easy to use. We've failed a few t…

Agree. My nephew has made 800 Scratch projects, which is mind-blowing. I'd love to offer him a smooth path to other development. However: - Python has graphics, but it's a very steep climb from the simple drag-and-drop of Scratch - Javascript has easy UI elements, but he'd have to learn HTML and other things Scratch is so different from "straight" programming, I'm not sure if it's worth his time to learn JS and then…

Possibly Processing? or processing.js?

The Coding Train on youtube (run by Daniel Shiffman) (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjgXvBlbQiydffZU7m1_aw) has some great tutorials.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#140

Post by Tade0 » Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 5:30 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #129

datkam wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have many profiles on any platform that I use a lot (at least 15 on HN and 15 on reddit).

Genuine question: why? I only have one, and I wonder if I'm missing something.

Anecdata: my sister had a additional Facebook account for gaming on this social media platform and adding strangers as friends for related bonuses without running the risk of inviting stalkers.

EDIT: additional, not "duplicate", which would imply any of the personal data was similar - it was of course fictional.