Hello Scratch! Learn to Program by Making Arcade Games

SummaryHello, Scratch! is a how-to book that helps parents and kids work together to learn programming skills by creating new versions of old retro-style arcade games with Scratch.Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.About the TechnologyCan 8-year-olds write computer programs? You bet they can! In Scratch, young coders use colorful blocks and a rich graphical environment to create programs. They can easily explore ideas like input and output, looping, branching, and conditionals. Scratch is a kid-friendly language created by MIT that is a safe and fun way to begin thinking like a programmer, without the complexity of a traditional programming language.About the BookHello Scratch! guides young readers through five exciting games to help them take their first steps in programming. They'll experiment with key ideas about how a computer program works and enjoy the satisfaction of immediate success. These carefully designed projects give readers plenty of room to explore by imagining, tinkering, and personalizing as they learn.What's InsideLearn by experimentationLearn to think like a programmerBuild five exciting, retro-style gamesVisualize the organization of a programAbout the ReadersWritten for kids 8-14. Perfect for independent learning or working with a parent or teacher.About the AuthorsKids know how kids learn. Sadie and Gabriel Ford, 12-year-old twins and a formidable art and coding team, wrote this book with editing help from their mother, author Melissa Ford!Table of ContentsPART 1 - SETTING UP THE ARCADEGetting to know your way around ScratchBecoming familiar with the Art EditorMeeting Scratch's key blocks through important coding conceptsPART 2 - TURNING ON THE MACHINESDesigning a two-player ball-and-paddle gameUsing conditionals to build a two-player ball-and-paddle gamePART 3 - CODING AND PLAYING GAMESDesigning a fixed shooterUsing conditionals to build your fixed shooterDesigning a one-player ball-and-paddle gameUsing variables to build your one-player ball-and-paddle gameDesigning a simple platformerUsing X and Y coordinates to make a simple platformerMaking a single-screen platformerUsing arrays and simulating gravity in a single-screen platformerBecoming a game maker