HELP YOUR KIDS WITH

C 0m Uter
p
CoDing
A UNIQUE STEP-BY-STEP VISUAL GUIDE,
FROM BINARY CODE TO BUILDING GAMES
HELP YOUR KIDS WITH

C 0m Uter
p
CoDing
 HELP YOUR KIDS WITH

C 0m Uter
p
CoDing
A UNIQUE STEP-BY-STEP VISUAL GUIDE,
FROM BINARY CODE TO BUILDING GAMES
 LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE,
MUNICH, AND DELHI

DK LONDON
Editor Sam Priddy
Designer Fiona Macdonald
Additional editors Sam Atkinson,
Lizzie Davey, Daniel Mills, Ben Morgan
US editor Jill Hamilton
Additional designer Simon Murrell
Managing editor Paula Regan
Managing art editor Owen Peyton Jones
Senior producer, pre-production Ben Marcus
Senior producer Mary Slater
Jacket editor Maud Whatley
Jacket designer Laura Brim
Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT
Publisher Sarah Larter
Art director Phil Ormerod
Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf

DK INDIA
Senior art editor Devika Dwarkadas
Editors Suefa Lee, Neha Pande
Art editors Sanjay Chauhan,
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Managing editor Rohan Sinha
Deputy managing art editor Sudakshina Basu
Pre-production manager Balwant Singh
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Senior DTP designer Harish Aggarwal

First American Edition, 2014

Published in the United States by DK Publishing
345 Hudson Street, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10014
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001 – 192672 – Jun/2014
Copyright © 2014 Dorling Kindersley Limited
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-1-4654-1956-9
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising,
or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 345 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014 or [email protected].
Printed and bound in China by South China Printing Company.
Discover more at
www.dk.com
CAROL VORDERMAN M.A. CANTAB, MBE is one of Britain’s best-loved TV presenters
and is renowned for her skills in mathematics. She has a degree in Engineering from the
Univerisity of Cambridge. Carol has a keen interest in coding, and feels strongly that
every child should have the chance to learn such a valuable skill. She has hosted
numerous TV shows on science and technology, such as Tomorrow’s World and How 2, as
well as The Pride of Britain Awards, on the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. Whether co-hosting
Channel 4’s Countdown for 26 years, becoming the second best selling female nonfiction
author of the noughties decade in the UK, or advising British Prime Minister David
Cameron on the future of potential mathematics education in the UK, Carol has a
passion and devotion to explaining mathematics, science, and technology in an
exciting and easily understandable way.

DR. JON WOODCOCK M.A. (OXON) has a degree in Physics from the University of
Oxford and a Ph.D. in Computational Astrophysics from the University of London. He
started coding at the age of eight and has programmed all kinds of computers from
single-chip microcontrollers to world-class supercomputers. His many projects include
giant space simulations, research in high-tech companies, and intelligent robots made
from junk. Jon has a passion for science and technology education, giving talks on space
and running computer programming clubs in schools. He has worked on numerous
science and technology books as a contributor and consultant.

SEAN MCMANUS learned to program when he was nine. His first programming
language was Logo. Today he is an expert technology author and journalist. His other
books include Scratch Programming in Easy Steps, Web Design in Easy Steps, and Raspberry
Pi For Dummies. Visit his website at www.sean.co.uk for Scratch games and tutorials.

CRAIG STEELE is a specialist in Computing Science education. He is Project Manager

for CoderDojo Scotland, which runs free coding clubs for young people. Craig has
previously worked for the Scottish Qualification Authority, Glasgow Science Centre,
and the University of Glasgow. Craig’s first computer was a ZX Spectrum.

CLAIRE QUIGLEY studied Computing Science at Glasgow University where she obtained
a B.S. and a Ph.D. She has worked in the Computer Laboratory at Cambridge University
and on a project that aimed to develop computational thinking skills in primary school
pupils. She is a mentor at CoderDojo Scotland, a coding club for young people.

DANIEL MCCAFFERTY holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of

Strathclyde. Since graduating, he has been developing software for some of the world’s
largest investment banks. In his spare time, Daniel is a mentor at CoderDojo Scotland,
a coding club for young people.
Contents
8 F O R E W O R D b y C a ro l Vo rd e r m a n
10 HOW THIS BOOK WORKS

WHAT IS CODING? 64 Decisions and branches

66 Sensing and detecting
14 What is a computer program? 68 Complex loops
16 Thinking like a computer 70 Sending messages
18 Becoming a coder 72 Creating blocks
74 Project 3: Monkey mayhem

STARTING FROM SCRATCH 82 Time to experiment

22 What is Scratch? PLAYING WITH PYTHON

24 Installing Scratch
26 Scratch interface 86 What is Python?
28 Sprites 88 Installing Python
30 Colored blocks and scripts 92 Introducing IDLE
32 Project 1: Escape the dragon! 94 Errors
38 Making things move 96 Project 4: Ghost game
40 Costumes 98 Ghost game decoded
42 Hide and seek 100 Program flow
44 Events 102 Simple commands
46 Simple loops 104 Harder commands
48 Pens and turtles 106 Which window?
50 Variables 108 Variables in Python
52 Math 110 Types of data
54 Strings and lists 112 Math in Python
56 Coordinates 114 Strings in Python
58 Make some noise 116 Input and output
60 Project 2: Roll the dice 118 Making decisions
62 True or false? 120 Branching
122 Loops in Python 188 Processors and memory
124 While loops 190 Essential programs
126 Escaping loops 192 Storing data in files
128 Lists 194 The Internet
130 Functions
132 Project 5: Silly sentences PROGRAMMING IN THE
134 Tuples and dictionaries REAL WORLD
136 Lists in variables
138 Variables and functions 198 Computer languages
140 Project 6: Drawing machine 200 Coding stars
148 Bugs and debugging 202 Busy programs
150 Algorithms 204 Computer games
152 Libraries 206 Making apps
154 Making windows 208 Programming for the Internet
156 Color and coordinates 210 Using JavaScript
158 Making shapes 212 Bad programs
160 Changing things 214 Mini computers
162 Reacting to events 216 Becoming a master programmer
164 Project 7: Bubble blaster
176 What next? 218 Glossary
220 Index

INSIDE COMPUTERS 224 Acknowledgments

180 Inside a computer

182 Binary and bases
184 Symbols and codes Find out more at:
186 Logic gates www.dk.com/computercoding
 Foreword

Just a few years ago, computer coding seemed like a mysterious skill that
could only be practiced by specialists. To many people, the idea that coding
could be fun was a strange one. But then the world changed. In the space
of a few years, the Internet, email, social networks, smartphones, and
apps hit us like a tornado, transforming the way we live.

Computers are a huge part of life that we all now take for granted. Instead
of calling someone on the phone, we send a text message or use social
media. From shopping and entertainment to news and games, we guzzle
everything computers have to offer. But we can do more than just use
this technology, we can create it. If we can learn to code, we can make our
own digital masterpieces.

Everything computers do is controlled by lines of code that someone has

typed out on a keyboard. It might look like a foreign language, but it’s a
language anybody can pick up quite quickly. Many would argue that coding
has become one of the most important skills you can learn in the 21st century.
Learning to code is tremendous fun because you can get instant results, no
matter how much more you have to learn. In fact, it’s such fun creating games
and programs that it feels effortless once you’re hooked. It’s also creative—
perhaps the first science that combines art, logic, storytelling, and business.

Not only that, coding is a fantastic skill for life. It strengthens logical thinking
and problem-solving skills—vital in many different areas of life, from science
and engineering to medicine and law. The number of jobs that require coding
is set to increase dramatically in the future, and there’s already a shortage of
good coders. Learn to code, and the digital world is yours for the taking!

CAROL VORDERMAN
10

How this book works

This book introduces all the essential 170 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T

concepts needed to understand computer BUBBLE BLASTER

coding. Fun projects throughout put these Figuring out the distance
Pixel people give
ideas into practice. Everything is broken down hints and tips along In this game, and lots of others, it is
between two objects. Here’s how to
into small chunks so that it’s easy to follow the way formula to have the computer work

and understand. 11
This function calculates the distance be
two objects. Add this bit of code direct
the code you wrote in step 9.

from math import sqrt

Each topic is def distance(id1, id2):
described in detail, “See also” boxes list x1, y1 = get_coords(id
with examples other subjects that are x2, y2 = get_coords(id
and exercises linked to the topic return sqrt((x2 - x1)*

42 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Choose the type

Sizes and effects
Hide and seek SEE ALSO

 38–39 Making
things move
Scripts can be used to change the size of a
sprite and add special effects to it.
from the dr
menu. The
effect makes
becom
Welcome to the special effects studio! Using the purple
“Looks” blocks, find out how to make sprites vanish and
Sending 70–71
messages
 Type in positive numbers
to make sprites bigger
reappear, grow and shrink, and fade in and out. and negative numbers
change size by 10 to make them smaller change

Use the “hide” block

Hiding sprites to make sprites
disappear in games Higher numbers make set co
To make a sprite disappear, use the “hide” block. The sprites bigger and
lower numbers make
sprite is still on the stage, and it can still move around, them smaller. 100 is
but it can’t be seen unless the “show” block is used to set size to 100 % normal size clear gr
make it visible again.
△ Changing a sprite’s size Resets all △ Addin
These two blocks can be used to the effects The grap
make a sprite bigger or smaller, used to c
▷ Hide and show either by a set amount or by a or distort
Colorful To make a sprite vanish, use the “hide” hide percentage of its size. experime
illustrations block. When you’re ready for it to be
seen again, use the “show” block.
highlight These blocks are found in the “Looks”
show Using effects to teleport
section of the blocks palette. Y
different Add a ghost sprite from the “Fantasy” category
of the sprite library, and create the script shown
programming below. It makes the ghost appear to teleport
▽ Disappearing cat
concepts Try this script using the cat sprite. It when clicked.
disappears and reappears but it keeps
moving, even when you can’t see it. EXPERT TIPS
Showing sprites The “ghost” effect makes the
when this sprite clicked fade slightly; by repeating th
when clicked Select a sprite in the sprite list. block 20 times the sprite fad
clear graphic effects away completely
Click the “i” button on it to open
Programming forever the information panel. There you This “Opera
This block hides can also use the “show” tick box repeat 20 selects a ra
scripts and wait 1 secs the cat to show or hide a sprite. horizontal
change ghost ▾ effect by 5
code are hide
This block rotates
explained line turn 90 degrees the cat clockwise Sprite1

by line move 100 steps

x: 84 y: -69
rotation style:
direction: -90° glide 0.1 secs to x: pick random -150 to 150 y: pic

The cat still moves can drag in player: repeat 20

wait 1 secs show:
even when hidden
change ghost ▾ effect by -5
show
This block shows Show a
the cat again hidden sprite Using this block makes the
sprite fade back in

Instructions show what Labels help explain

to click, drag, or select each step
 HOW THIS BOOK WORKS 11
Seven projects build up Simple step-by-step
coding skills. Project pages are instructions guide you
highlighted with a blue band through each project

THON BUBBLE BLASTER 171

Each line of
Now update the main game loop to use the
e between points 13 functions you have just created. Remember that
code is clearly
s useful to know the distance the order is important, so make sure you put labeled so
o use a well-known mathematical everything in the right place. Then run the code.
k it out. Bubbles should burst when they hit the sub. you can’t
Check the shell window to see the score.
go wrong
etween
score = 0
ly after
Loads the “sqrt” function #MAIN GAME LOOP Sets the score to zero
from the Math library when the game starts
while True:
Creates new bubbles
Gets the position of if randint(1, BUB_CHANCE) == 1:
the first object
create_bubble()
d1) Gets the position of
the second object
Gives back the distance
move_bubbles() Adds the bubble
d2) between them score to the total
clean_up_bubs()
**2 + (y2 - y1)**2)
score += collision()
print(score)
window.update() Shows the score in the shell
window—it will be displayed
H I D E Big
g bubbles. A N bubbles
D SEEK 43 sleep(0.01) properly later

oints. The next section of This pauses the action for

eisofpopped
effect by using its a very short time—try
rop-down Change the removing this and see
r“pixelate”
to the edge). numbers in the what happens
the sprite ▷ Collision
blocks to set sensing
me blurred how
If thestrong
distance between
sh into each other, the the
theeffect
center is of the sub and the center
update the score. This of a bubble is less than their radiuses EXPERT TIPS
the code in step 11. added together, they have collided.
pixelate ▾ effect by 25 Python shortcut Don’t forget to
save your work This icon
e keeps This loop goes through the entire list
nts scored of bubbles (it goes backwards to The code “score += collision()” indicates that
lor ▾ effect to 0avoid errors when deleting bubbles) Checks for collisions is a shortcut for writing
between the sub “score = score + collision()”. It adds the project
bub_id)-1, -1, -1): and any bubbles
Each color is the collision score to the total continues on
bub_id[bub]) represented
id2, effects
raphic < (SHIP_R by a + bub_r[bub]): score, then updates the total score.
number. Change
the number to
Code like this is common, so a the next page
b_r[bub] + bub_speed[bub]) shortcut is useful. You can also do
ng graphic effects set the color
b) Calculates the number of the same thing using the “–”
hic effects inDeletes
Scratch can be
the bubble points this bubble is worth symbol. For example, “score –= 10”
hange a sprite’s appearance and adds it to “points”
t its shape. They’re fun to
is the same as “score = score – 10”.
ck the
ent with.
of points

You’ll never know where

I’ll appear next!

Boxes give extra

information: tips,
definitions, and things
e sprite
his
to remember EXPERT TIPS
des

ators” block
ndom
When to save
This block
position selects a random
vertical position
Read on and
This save icon appears
ck random -150 to 150
get coding! on the project spreads. It
reminds you when to save
This block makes the the work you’ve done,
ghost move slowly,
hidden from view so that nothing is lost if
the computer crashes.
Always remember to save
Don’t forget to
your work frequently. save your work
What is
coding?
14 W H AT I S C O M P U T E R C O D I N G ?

What is a computer SEE ALSO

Thinking like 16–17
a computer

program? Becoming 18–19
a coder

A computer program is a set of instructions that a
computer follows to complete a task. “Coding”, or
“programming”, means writing the step-by-step
instructions that tell the computer what to do.

Computer programs are everywhere

We are surrounded by computer programs. Many of
the devices and gadgets we use every day are controlled
by them. These machines all follow step-by-step
instructions written by a computer programmer.

◁ Mobile phones △ Computer software

Programs allow you to make a Everything a computer does, from
phone call or send text messages. browsing the Internet to writing
When you search for a contact, documents or playing music, works
a program finds the correct because of code written by a
phone number. computer programmer.

◁ Games
Consoles are just another type of
computer, and all the games that
run on them are programs. All the
graphics, sounds, and controls
are written in computer code.

▷ Cars
In some cars, computer
programs monitor the
speed, temperature,
△ Washing machines and amount of fuel in
Washing machines are programmed the tank. Computer
to follow different cycles. Computer programs can even
code controls how hot the water is help control the brakes
and how long the wash takes. to keep people safe.
 W H AT I S A C O M P U T E R P R O G R A M ? 15
How computer programs work
Computers might seem very smart, but they are actually just
boxes that follow instructions very quickly and accurately. As
intelligent humans, we can get them to carry out different tasks
by writing programs, or lists of instructions.

Computers can’t think

1 A computer won’t do
anything by itself. It’s up to
Write a program
the computer programmer
to give it instructions.
2 You can tell a computer what to
do by writing a set of very detailed
instructions called a program. Each
instruction has to be small enough that
the computer can understand it. If the
Without instructions a instructions are incorrect, the computer
computer is clueless
This is a computer won’t behave the way you want it to.
program counting
down to launch
for count in range(10, 0, -1):
print(“Counting down”, count)
Programming languages
3 Computers can only follow
instructions in a language they
understand. It’s up to the
programmer to choose which
language is best for the task.

for count in range(10, 0, -1):

All programs are finally
print(“Counting down”, count) converted into “binary code”,
a basic computer language
that uses only ones and zeroes

LINGO
Hardware and software
“Hardware” means the physical
parts of the computer that you can
see or touch (all the wires, the

BLAST OFF! circuits, the keyboard, the display

screen, and so on). “Software”
means the programs that run
on the computer and control how
it works. Software and hardware
work together to make computers
do useful things.
16 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

Think like a computer SEE ALSO

 14–15 What is a
computer program?
A programmer must learn to think like a computer. All
tasks must be broken down into small chunks so that they
Becoming 18–19
a coder

are easy to follow and impossible to get wrong.

Thinking like a robot LINGO

Imagine a café where the waiter is a robot. The robot has Algorithm
a simple computer brain, and needs to be told how to
get from the café kitchen to serve food to diners seated An algorithm is a set of simple
instructions for performing a task.
at tables. First the process has to be broken down into
A program is an algorithm that has
simple tasks the computer can understand. been translated into a language
that computers can understand.

Waiter robot program 1

1 Using this program the robot grabs the food from
the plate, crashes straight through the kitchen wall
into the dining area, and puts the food on the floor.
◁ Disaster!
This algorithm wasn’t detailed enough.
The instructions
weren’t clear: we
1. Pick up food forgot to tell the
robot to use the door.
2. Move from kitchen to diner’s table It might seem obvious
to humans but
3. Put food down computers can’t think
for themselves.

Waiter robot program 2

2 This time we’ve told the robot waiter to use the
kitchen door. It makes it through the door, but then hits
the café cat, trips, and smashes the plate on the floor.

1. Pick up a plate with food on it

2. Move from kitchen to diner’s table by:
Move to door between kitchen and dining area
△ Still not perfect
Move from door to the table The robot doesn’t know how to deal with
obstacles like the cat. The program needs
3. Put plate down on the table in front of the diner to give the robot even more detailed
instructions so it can move around safely.
 THINK LIKE A COMPUTER 17
Waiter robot program 3
3 In this version of the program, the robot successfully
delivers the food to the diner avoiding any obstacles. But
after putting the plate down, the robot remains standing
at the table while food piles up in the kitchen.

1. Pick up a plate with food on it holding it level at all times

2. Move from kitchen to diner’s table by:
Move to door between kitchen and dining area
checking for obstacles and steering around them
Move from door to the table
△ Success at last?
checking for obstacles and steering around them Finally the robot can deliver the
food safely. But we forgot to give
it instructions to go back to the
3. Put plate down on the table in front of the diner kitchen and get the next plate.

Real-world example
The waiter robot might be imaginary, but algorithms like
this are in action all around us. For example, a computer-
controlled elevator faces the same sort of problems.
Should it go up or down? Which floor should it go to next?

1. Wait until doors are closed

2. Wait for button to be pressed
If button pressed is higher than current floor:
Move lift upwards
If button pressed is lower than current floor: ◁ Elevator program
For the elevator to work
Move lift downwards correctly and safely, every
step has to be precise, clear,
3. Wait until current floor equals button pressed and cover every possibility.
The programmers have to
4. Open doors make sure that they create a
suitable algorithm.
18 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

Becoming a coder SEE ALSO

What is 22–23
Scratch?

Coders are the people who write the programs behind
everything we see and do on a computer. You can create
What is 86–87
Python?

your own programs by learning a programming language.

Programming languages
There are a huge range of programming languages to choose
from. Each one can be used for different tasks. Here are some of
the most popular languages and what they are often used for:

A powerful language for building Ideal for programs that need to

C computer operating systems. MATLAB carry out lots of calculations.

Used to control spacecraft, Automatically turns lots of

Ada satellites, and airplanes. Ruby information into web pages.

Works on computers, cell phones, A language used to build

Java and tablets. Javascript interactive websites.

A visual language that’s ideal A text-based language that can

for learning programming. be used to build all kinds of
Scratch This is the first language Python things. It’s the second language
covered in this book. covered in this book.

What is Scratch? SCRATCH

Untitled
by abcd (unshared)
File ▾ Edit ▾ Tips ?

Scripts Costumes Sounds

Scratch is a great way to start Motion

Looks
Sound
Events
Control
Sensing x: -126

coding. Programs are created Pen

Data
Operators
More Blocks
y: 96

by connecting together blocks

when clicked

forever
move 10 steps
go to mouse pointer ▾

of code, instead of typing it out. turn

turn
15 degrees

15 degrees
move 10 steps

Scratch is quick and easy to use, point in direction 90 ▾

forever

point towards ▾

and also teaches you the key

next costume

play sound bubbles ▾ until done

go to x: 0 y: 0

ideas you need to use other Sprites New sprite:

x: 153 y: -61
go to mouse pointer ▾

glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0

programming languages.
Stage
1 backdrop Sprite 1 Sprite 2

New backdrop:

Backpack

The program appears on Code is made by connecting

this side of the screen colored blocks together
 BECOMING A CODER 19
What is Python? IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help
People around the world use ghostgame
Python to build games, tools, and # Ghost Game
websites. It’s a great language
from random import randint
to master because it can help
you build all kinds of different print(‘Ghost Game’)
programs. Python looks like a feeling_brave = True
mixture of recognizable words score = 0
and characters, so it can be easily
while feeling_brave:
read and understood by humans.
ghost_door = randint(1, 3)
A program written
print(‘Three doors ahead...’)
in Python

Getting started
It’s time to start programming. All you need
is a computer with an Internet connection.
This book starts with Scratch—the perfect
language to help you on your way to
becoming a coding expert. Get ready to jump
into the exciting world of computer coding.

EXPERT TIPS
Enjoy experimenting
As a programmer you should
experiment with the code and
programs you make. One of the
best ways to learn programming
is to play around and see what
happens when you change
different parts of the code. By
tinkering and fiddling, you’ll
discover new ways of doing
things. You’ll learn much more
about computer programming
and have even more fun.
 Starting
from Scratch
22 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

What is Scratch? SEE ALSO

Installing and 24–25
launching Scratch

Scratch is a visual programming language that
makes coding simple. It can be used to make all
Scratch 26–27
interface

sorts of fun and interesting programs. Colored blocks 30–31 
and scripts

Understanding Scratch
Scratch is perfect for making games and animations.
It has large collections (or “libraries”) of cool graphics Blocks lock
together like
and sounds that you can play around with. jigsaw pieces

Start programming Put together

1 Scratch is a programming language. 2 programming blocks
There’s not much typing, and it’s easy Scratch uses colored blocks of
to get started. code. Blocks are selected and
joined together to make a script,
which is a set of instructions.
Write your
first program
in Scratch!

LINGO
Why is it called Scratch?
“Scratching” is a way of mixing
different sounds to make new
music. The Scratch programming
language enables you to mix
Make sprites move and speak pictures, sounds, and scripts to
3 Objects such as people, vehicles, Sprites like me can be
programmed to talk
make new computer programs.
and animals can be added to a program. in speech bubbles.
These objects are called sprites. Scripts
make them move and speak.

Sprites can be
programmed
to walk, run,
and dance
 W H AT I S S C R AT C H ? 23
A typical Scratch program
Here is an example of a Scratch program. All of the action
takes place in an area on the screen called the “stage.” The red button
stops a program
Background images and sprites can be added to the stage,
and you can write scripts to make things happen. The green flag
runs a program

▷ Running a program
Untitled
Starting a program is
by abcd (unshared)
called “running” it. To
run a program in Scratch,
click the green flag above
the stage.

Background image

Adding a script makes

the shark sprite move

Several sprites can be

on the stage at once

▷ Scripts make
REMEMBER
sprites move
when clicked
Scratch contains blocks Scratch programs
that can be used to make forever
scripts. This script makes In Scratch, when you save your
the shark bounce around next costume work it is called a “project.” A
the screen. The “next project includes all the sprites,
costume” block makes it wait 0.25 secs backgrounds, sounds, and scripts
open and close its mouth you’re working with. When you
with each movement. move 10 steps load a project again later,
everything will be where it was
if on edge, bounce
The “forever” block when you saved it. A Scratch
keeps the sprite project is a computer program.
moving endlessly
24 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Installing and REMEMBER

Scratch website
launching Scratch Find the Scratch website at:
http://scratch.mit.edu/
To start programming in Scratch, you need to
have the Scratch software. It can be installed
on a computer, or it can be used online.

Create a Scratch account

A Scratch account can be used to share the programs you
make on the Scratch website. It’s also used to save work
online. Visit the Scratch website at: http://scratch.mit.edu/
and click “Join Scratch” to create your account.

▷ Getting started
The way Scratch is
set up depends on
whether it’s used over
the Internet (online)
or from downloaded
software (offline).

1 Set-up 2 Launching Scratch

Visit http://scratch.mit.edu and click

Once you’ve joined the Scratch website,
“Join Scratch.” Fill in the form to create a
click “Sign in,” and enter your username
username and password. Make sure you
and password. Click “Create” at the top of
get permission from your parent or
the screen to begin a new program.
Online caregiver to join the website.

Download the software version of

Scratch at: http://scratch.mit.edu/ Double-click the icon on the desktop
scratch2download/. Run the installation and Scratch will start, ready to begin
program and a Scratch icon will appear programming.
Offline on your desktop.
 I N S TA L L I N G A N D L A U N C H I N G S C R AT C H 25
EXPERT TIPS Different versions of Scratch
Mouse control This book uses Scratch 2.0, the latest version of
Scratch. Use this version if possible. An older
The “click” instruction means press version will differ slightly.
the left mouse button if there is
more than one. “Right-click” means
use the right mouse button. If a
mouse only has one button, hold
the “CTRL” key on the keyboard
and press the mouse button to
perform a right-click.

△ Scratch 1.4 △ Scratch 2.0

The older version of Scratch The latest version of Scratch has
has the stage on the right of some new commands and the
the screen. stage is on the left of the screen.

3 Saving work 4 Operating systems

When you’re logged in, Scratch The web version of Scratch works well on
automatically saves work for you. To find Windows, Ubuntu, and Mac operating
your work, click your username at the top systems. It needs Adobe Flash software, Ready?
right of the screen and click “My Stuff.” though, so it won’t work on some tablets. Let’s go!

The offline version of Scratch works well on

Click the “File” menu at the top of the
computers with Windows and Mac operating
screen and choose “Save As.” Ask the
systems. It doesn’t work well on computers
person who owns the computer where
that use Ubuntu. If a computer uses Ubuntu,
you should save your work.
try the online version instead.
26 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

▽ Experiment
Scratch interface Click the buttons and tabs to
explore and experiment with
the Scratch interface. The
This is Scratch’s screen layout, or “interface.” projects that follow explain
The stage is on the left and programs are how to use them.
created on the right.
Click for full Change Menu Cursor
screen view language options tools

EXPERT TIPS SCRATCH File ▾ Edit ▾ Tips ?

Menu and tools
Untitled
MENU OPTIONS by abcd (unshared)
This is what the menu options
at the top of the screen do. Program
name box
Save work or start
File ▾
a new project.

Undo any mistakes or

Edit ▾
change the stage size. Click a sprite on the
stage or in the sprite
If you get stuck, find list to select it
Tips
help here.

CURSOR TOOLS
Click on the tool you want to use,
and then click on the sprite or
script that you want to use it on.
Copy a sprite or script.

x: 153 y: -61

Delete a sprite or script. Sprites New sprite:

Enlarge a sprite.

Stage
1 backdrop Sprite 1 Sprite 2 Sprite 3
Shrink a sprite.
New backdrop:

Get help on a block.

? Buttons to change Blue box around Buttons to add
the background the selected sprite new sprites
 S C R AT C H I N T E R FA C E 27
▷ Scratch map
The stage is where
programs run. Sprites are
Sounds tab managed in the sprite list S TA G E A R E A B LO C K S SCRIPTS
and script blocks can be PA L E T T E AREA
found in the blocks
Costumes tab palette. Build scripts in
the scripts area.
SPRITE LIST
Scripts tab
S TA G E L I S T B A C K PA C K

Scripts Costumes Sounds

Motion Events
Looks Control Select different Current
types of blocks sprite
Sound Sensing x: -126 selected
y: 96
Pen Operators
Data More Blocks
when clicked
Position
forever of the
move 10 steps
current
go to mouse-pointer ▾
sprite on
turn 15 degrees move 10 steps the stage
Blocks snap
turn 15 degrees
together—use the
mouse to move
point in direction 90 ▾ them around
forever

point towards ▾ next costume

play sound hoot ▾ until done

go to x: 0 y: 0

go to mouse-pointer ▾

These scripts control

glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0
the owl sprite

Backpack

Drag blocks from here

into the scripts area to Build Store scripts, sprites, sounds Zoom in
make scripts scripts here and costumes in the backpack on scripts
28 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Sprites SEE ALSO

 26–27 Scratch
interface
Sprites are the basic components of Scratch. Every Scratch
program is made up of sprites and the scripts that control
Costumes 40–41 
them. The “Escape the dragon!” program on pages 32–37
Hide and seek 42–43 
uses the cat, dragon, and donut sprites.

What can sprites do?

Sprites are the images on the stage. Scripts are programmed We can make lots
to make them do things. Sprites can be instructed to react to of different sounds.

other sprites and the user of the program. Here are a few
things sprites can do:

Move around the stage React when they touch things

Change their appearance Be controlled by the user

Play sounds and music Talk in speech bubbles

Sprites in the Scratch interface

Each project can have several sprites, and each one can have its The scripts being
own scripts. It’s important to add scripts to the correct sprite, shown belong to the
and to know how to switch between them. sprite shown here

SCRATCH File ▾ Edit ▾ Tips ?

Untitled Scripts Costumes Sounds

by abcd (unshared)

Motion Events
Looks Control
Sound Sensing x: -126
y: 96
Pen Operators
Data More Blocks
when clicked

forever
move 10 steps
go to mouse-pointer ▾
turn 15 degrees move 10 steps

turn 15 degrees

Select different point in direction 90 ▾

forever
sprites by clicking point towards ▾ next costume

on them go to x: 0 y: 0
play sound pop ▾ until done

x: 153 y: -61
go to mouse-pointer ▾
Sprites New sprite:
glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0

▷ Sprites and scripts

A project can have lots Stage
1 backdrop Sprite 1 Sprite 2 Sprite 3

of sprites, and each sprite New backdrop:

Backpack
can have lots of scripts.
 SPRITES 29
Creating and editing sprites
Games are more exciting when there are more sprites
to hit, dodge, or chase each other around the stage.
It’s simple to create, copy, and delete sprites.

▽ Create a sprite ▽ Copy or delete a sprite

Use the buttons above the sprite list to To copy a sprite and its scripts, right-click
add or create a sprite for your program. on it in the sprite list and choose “duplicate.”

New sprite: Sprites This option

copies a sprite
Use your
Choose from webcam
the library duplicate
Select a picture
from your computer delete
Create a Sprite 1 Sprite 2
new sprite save to local file
This option
deletes a sprite hide

Select the sprite

Naming a sprite 1 Select a sprite in the sprite list, and then
When you start a new program in click on the blue “i” button in the corner.
Scratch the cat sprite is called “Sprite1.”
The blue “i”
It’s easier to write programs if you give Sprites button
your sprites more meaningful names.
It also makes it easier to understand
and manage scripts.

Sprite 1 Sprite 2 Sprite 3

Change the name Renamed sprite

2 When the information panel opens, 3 Click the blue arrow to the left of
click on the text box and use the keyboard Type the the sprite to close the information panel.
to change the name of the sprite. sprite’s new
name here

The sprite’s
Spike new name
x: 84 y: -69 direction: -90° appears in
rotation style: the sprite list
can drag in player:
show: Spike
30 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Colored blocks SEE ALSO

 26–27 Scratch
interface

and scripts Escape the 32–37

dragon!

Blocks are color-coded depending on what they do.
Putting them together builds scripts that run in the
order in which they are placed.

Colored blocks Scripts Costumes Sounds

There are ten different types of blocks in
Scratch. Switch between them using the Motion Events
buttons in the blocks palette. Click on a Looks Control
color to see all the blocks in that section. Sound Sensing
Pen Operators
Data More Blocks
Button to show the
orange “Data” blocks

Functions of blocks
Different types of blocks do different things ▽ Motion, looks, sound, and pen
in programs. Some of them make sprites These blocks control what a sprite does on
screen—this is called the output of a program.
move, some manage sounds, and some
Pick a sprite and try each block to see what it does.
decide when things happen.
This block
▽ Events and sensing turn 15 degrees rotates the
Brown “Events” blocks make things sprite
happen. Light blue “Sensing” blocks
detect information about the keyboard,
mouse, and what a sprite is touching. think Hmm... for 2 secs
This block
shows a
thought
when clicked bubble
Detects when play sound meow ▾
the green flag This block
is clicked plays a sound
recording
key space ▾ pressed? pen down
Checks whether This block draws a line
the spacebar as a sprite moves
is pressed
 COLORED BLOCKS AND SCRIPTS 31
▽ Data and operators ▽ Control
Orange “Data” blocks and green The “Control” blocks make decisions about
“Operators” blocks store numbers when blocks run. They can be programmed
and words and do things with them. to repeat instructions.

Stores a number
in a variable
set age ▾ to 10 forever
This makes the
Chooses a blocks inside it run
random number on loop (forever)
pick random 1 to 10

Flow of scripts
When a program runs, Scratch carries out the
instructions on the blocks. It starts at the top
of the scripts and works its way down.

◁ The thoughtful cat

when clicked
When this script is used with the cat sprite,
wait 2 secs the cat will wait 2 seconds, think for a
moment, pause 1 second, and then move.
think Hmm... for 2 secs

wait 1 secs Programs run

from top REMEMBER
to bottom
move 100 steps Stopping scripts
This instruction
is run last To stop all scripts in a program
that are running, click the red stop
button above the stage. It’s shaped
Running scripts like a hexagon. You’ll find it beside
When a script is running, it glows. Use the green the green flag button used to start
your program.
flag button on the stage to run a script or click
a script or a block to make it run.
The glowing outline Untitled
means this script by abcd (unshared)

is running
when clicked Press this
button to stop a
wait 2 secs program

think Hmm... for 2 secs

wait 2 secs ◁ Testing scripts

Test whether a script is
move 100 steps working properly by
clicking on it.
32 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

PROJECT 1

Escape the dragon! SEE ALSO

 24–25 Installing and

launching Scratch
This project introduces some basic Scratch
coding. It shows how to make a game to help
 26–27 Scratch
interface
the cat sprite dodge a fire-breathing dragon.
Blocks palette “Control” button

Make the cat move Scripts Costumes Sounds

This stage explains how to make the cat sprite
move around and chase the mouse-pointer. Motion Events
Follow the instructions carefully because otherwise Looks Control
the game might not work. Sound Sensing
Pen Operators
Open Scratch. Click “File” on Click the yellow
Data More Blocks
1 the menu and select “New” to 2 “Control” button in
start a new project. The cat the blocks palette.
sprite appears. Then click the wait 10 secs
“forever” block, keep
Drag the block into
the mouse button repeat 10 the scripts area
Every new project in pressed down, and
Scratch includes me, drag the block into
the cat sprite. the scripts area forever

on the right. Release

the button to drop forever
the block.

Click this block

Click the blue “Motion” button in the blocks palette. Click the “Events” button in the blocks palette. Drag
3 The blue “Motion” commands will appear. Drag the 4 the “when green flag clicked” block into the scripts
“point toward” block into the scripts area and drop it area. Join it to the top of your script.
inside the “forever” block. Click the black arrow in
This block snaps to
the block and choose “mouse-pointer.” the top of the script
Click the drop-down when clicked The menu shows
menu and select “mouse-pointer”
forever “mouse-pointer” forever has been chosen

point towards ▾ point towards mouse-pointer ▾

mouse-pointer
 ESCAPE THE DRAGON! 33

Try running the program by clicking the

5 green flag at the top of the stage. As you move
the mouse around the stage, the cat turns to
face the mouse-pointer.

Untitled Move the mouse

and watch the cat
by abcd (unshared)
spin around
following it
Use the Run the Stop the
full screen program program

Click the “Motion” button again, and drag the “move The picture behind the sprites is called a backdrop.
6 10 steps” block into the scripts area. Drop it inside 7 To the left of the sprite list is a button to add a
the “forever” block. Click the green flag button so backdrop from the library. Click it, then select the
the cat chases the mouse-pointer! “Space” theme from the list. Click the “stars” image
and then click the “OK” button at the bottom right.

when clicked
Stage
forever 1 backdrop
Choose backdrop
point towards mouse-pointer ▾ from the library

New backdrop:
move 10 steps

The “forever” block Drop this block inside

automatically stretches the “forever” block
to make room

SCRATCH File ▾ Edit ▾ Tips ?

◁ Cat in space
Scripts Costumes Sounds
Untitled
by abcd (unshared)
The Scratch interface
Motion
Looks
Events
Control
now looks like this. Run
Sound Sensing x: -126
y: 96
the program and the cat
Pen Operators
Data More Blocks chases the mouse-pointer
when clicked

move 10 steps
forever
through space.
point towards mouse pointer ▾
turn 15 degrees move 10 steps

turn 15 degrees

point in direction 90 ▾

point towards ▾

go to x: 0 y: 0

x: 153 y: -61
go to mouse pointer ▾
Sprites New sprite:
glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0

Scratch automatically saves

Stage
1 backdrop Sprite 1 work if you’re online. To save work
New backdrop:
while offline—click “File” and
Backpack
select “Save As.”
34 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

ESCAPE THE DRAGON!

Add a fire-breathing dragon
Now that the cat can chase the mouse, make a dragon to chase
the cat. Don’t let the dragon catch the cat, or it will get scorched.

Above the sprite list is a button to add a sprite from Add this script to the dragon sprite. Click the
8 the library. Click it, choose the “Fantasy” category 9 color-coded buttons in the blocks palette to select
from the menu on the left, and select “Dragon.” Click the blocks below, then drag the blocks into the
the “OK” button in the bottom-right of the screen. scripts area. The dragon will now chase the cat.

New sprite: Use the menu to

make the dragon
when clicked point toward the
Add a
sprite from cat (“Sprite1”)
forever
the library
point towards Sprite1 ▾
The dragon is
move 10 steps
highlighted in blue
to show it’s your Sprite 1
current sprite

Click the blue “Motion” button and drag the “go to With the dragon sprite highlighted, add this
10 x:0 y:0” block into the script. Click the number 11 second script to the scripts area. The “wait until”
boxes in the block and change them to -200 and block is found in the “Control” section, and the
-150. Click the purple “Looks” button and add the “touching” block is in the “Sensing” section. The
“switch costume to” block to your script. dragon now breathes fire when it touches the cat.
Use the menu to
Place this block choose “Sprite1”
when clicked here to make the when clicked (the cat)
dragon start in
go to x: -200 y: -150 the corner wait until touching Sprite1 ▾ ?

switch costume to dragon1-a ▾ switch costume to dragon1-b ▾

forever Use the menu stop all ▾ Drag this
to choose block inside
point towards Sprite1 ▾ “dragon1-a.” This “Control” block the “wait
The dragon stops the program until” block
move 4 steps will start in
this costume
Costume
“dragon1-b”
Change 10 to 4 to make makes the dragon
the dragon move slower breathe fire
than the cat
 ESCAPE THE DRAGON! 35

In coding, a “variable” is used to store information. This

EXPERT TIPS
12 step uses a variable to create a timer to measure how long
a player survives before getting toasted. Click the “Data” Make the game harder
button and then click “Make a Variable.”
Try changing the speed or size
Scripts Costumes Sounds of your sprites.
Make the dragon faster:
Motion Events
move 5 steps
Looks Control
Data Sound Sensing
button Make the dragon larger or smaller:
Pen Operators
Click this icon and then click
Data More Blocks a sprite to make it larger.

Click this icon and then click

Click to create Make a Variable a sprite to make it smaller.
a variable

Type in the variable name “Time” and make sure The variable name and the number in it appear
13 the “For all sprites” button is selected underneath, 14 on the stage in a small box. Right-click it and
then click “OK.” This means that the cat, dragon, choose “large readout.” This shows just the
and any other sprites can use the variable. number in the box.

New Variable Time 0

Select
this option Variable name: Time normal readout
then click The number in your
“OK” “Time” variable large readout
For all sprites For this sprite only
Cloud variable (stored on server) slider

OK Cancel hide

Making a variable adds

15 new blocks to the “Data” when clicked
This resets the
section of the blocks timer to 0 when
palette. Drag the “set set Time ▾ to 0 the game starts
Time to 0” and “change
Time by 1” blocks from forever Choose from the
the “Data” section to the “Control” section. Adds
wait 1 secs a 1 second delay
scripts area to make this
new script. You can give change Time ▾ by 1
this script to any sprite.
Increases the Don’t forget to
timer by 1 save your work
36 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

ESCAPE THE DRAGON!

Add a delicious donut
Scratch comes with lots of sprites in its library. Make the
game trickier by adding a donut sprite to the program
for the cat to chase.
Click the button above the sprite list to add a Add this script to the donut. The “mouse down?”
16 new sprite from the library. Select “Donut” from 17 block can be found in the “Sensing” section, and
the “Things” category on the left and click “OK.” the “go to mouse-pointer” block in the “Motion”
section. This script makes the donut follow the
mouse-pointer when the mouse button is clicked.
New sprite:

Add a sprite This is a

from the library when clicked “Sensing”
block
forever

wait until mouse down?

go to mouse-pointer ▾
Sprite 1
The donut
is now your
selected sprite

Select the cat in the sprite list so its script Click the green flag button to run the program.
18 appears. Click the menu in the “point toward 19 Press the mouse button and the donut moves
mouse-pointer” block. Change it so that the cat to the mouse-pointer. The cat follows the
follows the donut instead of the mouse-pointer. donut, and the dragon chases the cat.

Click to open Save the cat

when clicked the menu from the
dragon!
forever

point towards Donut ▾

move 5 steps mouse-pointer

Donut

Dragon

Choose the donut from

the drop-down menu Move the
donut using the
mouse-pointer
 ESCAPE THE DRAGON! 37

Now add some music. Click the “Sounds” tab Select the “drip drop” sound and click the
20 above the blocks palette. Each sprite has its 21 “OK” button at the bottom-right. The sound
own sounds, and they are managed here. is added to the cat sprite, and appears in
Click the button on the left to add a sound the “Sounds” area.
from the library.
“Sounds” tab

Scripts Costumes Sounds 2

New sound: Delete

Use a sound from
sounds here
your computer.
drip drop
00:02.8
Record a sound

Add a sound This is how long

from the library the sound lasts

Click the “Scripts” tab to go back to the

22 scripts area. Add this script to the cat sprite, Congratulations! You’ve
so it plays the music all the time. Run the written your first
program and have fun! computer game.

when clicked

forever

play sound drip drop ▾ until done

Don’t forget to
save your work
Use the “Sound” button
to find this block

REMEMBER
Achievements
This project has shown some of Made sprites move: You’ve made sprites
the things Scratch can do. Here’s chase each other.
what you’ve achieved. Used a variable: You’ve created a timer for
your game.
Created a program: By combining blocks of Used costumes: You’ve changed the dragon’s
code into scripts, you’ve put together a game. appearance using different costumes.
Added pictures: You’ve used both backdrops Added music: You’ve added a sound, and
and sprites. made it play when your program runs.
38 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Making things move SEE ALSO

 28–29 Sprites
Computer games are all about firing, dodging, catching, Co-ordinates 56–57 
and escaping. Characters might run, fly spaceships, or
drive fast cars. To create great games in Scratch, you first
need to learn how to make sprites move.

Motion blocks Scratch won’t let sprites

The dark blue “Motion” blocks make sprites move. Start a new project walk off the stage, so
you’ll never lose us.
by clicking the “File” menu and choosing “New.” The new project
begins with the cat in the middle of the stage, ready for action.

First steps
1 Drag the “move 10
move 10 steps
steps” block from the Click the white window on
“Motion” section of the the block and type in a
blocks palette and drop it different number to change
into the scripts area to its how far the cat moves
right. Each time you click Add this block to tell
the block, the cat moves. Scratch when to start The “forever” block
running the script repeats anything
Keep on moving inside it endlessly
2 Drag a yellow
when clicked
“forever” block from the
blocks palette and drop forever EXPERT TIPS
it around the “move 10
steps” block. Click the move 10 steps Rotation styles
green flag on the stage
to run the program. The Find the cat in the “Sprites” list in
cat moves until it hits the bottom left of the screen. Click
the edge of the stage. Try changing the “i” button in the top left of the
10 to 30 to make frame. Here you’ll find a button to
Bouncing the cat sprint! change the cat’s rotation style—so
3 Drag an “if on edge, when clicked
it doesn’t walk around on its head!
bounce” block inside your
“forever” block. Now the forever The cat faces the direction
cat bounces when it hits it’s walking in, sometimes
the edge of the stage. The move 10 steps upside down.
cat is upside down when
it walks to the left. if on edge, bounce The cat faces left or right, and
is always the right way up.
This block makes the cat
turn around when it hits
The cat doesn’t rotate at all.
the edge of the stage
 MAKING THINGS MOVE 39
Which direction? The direction -90°
means “left”
0°
The cat is now marching left and right across the screen.
It’s possible to change the cat’s direction, so it walks up
and down, or even diagonally. The “Motion” blocks can -90° 90°
be used to make a game of cat and mouse.
Click the block to make
the cat change direction Select or type in a new
number to change the 180°
Heading the direction of the cat
4 right way △ Compass
Drag the “point in direction” point in direction 45 ▾ Directions are measured in
block into the scripts area degrees, from 0° at the top.
and open its drop-down (90) right You can use any number
menu. There are four between -179° and +180°.
directions to choose from. (-90) left
The drop-down
Or, click on the number in menu gives you The cat will follow
(0) up the mouse-pointer
the window and type in a four options
new direction. (180) down

Click the green flag

Cat and mouse to start the program
5 Remove the “move
when clicked
10 steps” and “if on edge,
bounce” blocks from the forever
script. Now drag a “point
toward” block into the point towards mouse-pointer ▾
“forever” block. Open
the menu and choose
“mouse-pointer.” REMEMBER
As the mouse-pointer moves,
the cat turns to face it Sprites
Chase the mouse
6 Can the cat catch the mouse? Drag a “move 10
steps” block into the “forever” loop. Now the cat walks
toward the mouse-pointer.

when clicked Sprites are objects in a Scratch

program that you can move
forever around (see pp.28–29). Every new
project stars the cat sprite, but you
point towards mouse-pointer ▾ can add cars, dinosaurs, dancers,
and all sorts of other sprites from
move 10 steps the library. You can even have a go
Adjust the number of steps at designing your own.
to change the cat’s speed
40 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Costumes SEE ALSO

 38–39 Making
things move
To change what a sprite looks like, its expression,
or its position, you need to change its “costume.”
Sending 70–71
messages

Costumes are pictures of a sprite in different poses.
Costumes tab

Changing costumes Scripts Costumes Sounds

Different costumes can make your sprite
look like it’s moving its arms and legs. When New costume: costume2
you switch between the cat’s two costumes,
it looks like it’s walking. Start a new project 1
and try this example.

costume1
93x101
One of the
2
cat’s costumes

Different costumes
1 Click the “Costumes” tab to see the cat’s costume2
costumes. They show the cat with its legs and 89x101
arms in two different positions.

Make the cat walk Change the cat’s costume

2 Add this script to make the cat walk. 3 Add the “next costume” block from the
When it moves, it slides across the screen without “Looks” section of the blocks palette, so the cat
moving its legs, because its picture always stays changes its costume with each step. This makes
the same. its legs and arms move.

when clicked when clicked

This picks the
forever forever next costume

move 10 steps next costume

if on edge, bounce wait 0.5 secs Pauses so the

costumes don’t
move 10 steps change too quickly

if on edge, bounce
The colors remind
you where to find
the blocks
 COSTUMES 41
The green flag starts
Dancing ballerina the ballerina’s dance
Now try making a ballerina dance. Add
the ballerina sprite from the library. Select when clicked
your cat in the sprite list and drag its forever
script on to the ballerina in the sprite list.
Sprite 1
This copies the script to the ballerina. next costume

wait 0.5 secs

Drop the script on to the move 10 steps

ballerina in the sprite list
if on edge, bounce

△ Ballerina’s script
The same script works for the ballerina and
the cat. The ballerina has four costumes, and
she uses them all as she dances on the stage.

EXPERT TIPS
Switching
You can choose to show a specific
switch costume to ballerina-a ▾
costume for your sprite using
the “switch costume to” block.
Switch costumes: Use the menu in the block to choose a costume.
You can use this block to
choose a particular position
for your sprite. switch backdrop to backdrop1 ▾

Switch backdrops: Change the picture on the stage with this block.

Adding speech bubbles

when clicked The ballerina
You can add speech bubbles to make your stands up
sprites talk when they change costumes. forever
Use the “say Hello! for 2 secs” block and
switch costume to ballerina-a ▾
change the text in it to make your sprite
say something else. say Up! for 1 secs

switch costume to ballerina-b ▾

The ballerina
says “Up!” say Down! for 1 secs

She crouches
and says “Down!”
42 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Hide and seek SEE ALSO

 38–39 Making
things move
Welcome to the special effects studio! Using the purple
“Looks” blocks, find out how to make sprites vanish and
Sending 70–71
messages

reappear, grow and shrink, and fade in and out.
Use the “hide” block
Hiding sprites to make sprites
disappear in games
To make a sprite disappear, use the “hide” block. The
sprite is still on the stage, and it can still move around,
but it can’t be seen unless the “show” block is used to
make it visible again.

▷ Hide and show

To make a sprite vanish, use the “hide” hide
block. When you’re ready for it to be
seen again, use the “show” block.
These blocks are found in the “Looks”
show
section of the blocks palette.

▽ Disappearing cat
Try this script using the cat sprite. It
disappears and reappears but it keeps
moving, even when you can’t see it. EXPERT TIPS
Showing sprites
when clicked Select a sprite in the sprite list.
Click the “i” button on it to open
forever the information panel. There you
This block hides can also use the “show” tick box
wait 1 secs the cat to show or hide a sprite.
hide
This block rotates
turn 90 degrees the cat clockwise Sprite1
x: 84 y: -69 direction: -90°
move 100 steps rotation style:

The cat still moves can drag in player:

wait 1 secs show:
even when hidden
show
This block shows Show a
the cat again hidden sprite
 HIDE AND SEEK 43
Choose the type of effect
Sizes and effects from the drop-down Change the
Scripts can be used to change the size of a menu. The “pixelate” numbers in the
effect makes the sprite blocks to set
sprite and add special effects to it. become blurred how strong
the effect is
Type in positive numbers
to make sprites bigger
and negative numbers
change size by 10 to make them smaller change pixelate ▾ effect by 25

Higher numbers make set color ▾ effect to 0

sprites bigger and
lower numbers make Each color is
them smaller. 100 is represented by a
set size to 100 % normal size clear graphic effects number. Change
the number to
△ Changing a sprite’s size Resets all △ Adding graphic effects set the color
These two blocks can be used to the effects The graphic effects in Scratch can be
make a sprite bigger or smaller, used to change a sprite’s appearance
either by a set amount or by a or distort its shape. They’re fun to
percentage of its size. experiment with.

Using effects to teleport

You’ll never know where
Add a ghost sprite from the “Fantasy” category I’ll appear next!
of the sprite library, and create the script shown
below. It makes the ghost appear to teleport
when clicked.

The “ghost” effect makes the sprite

when this sprite clicked fade slightly; by repeating this
block 20 times the sprite fades
clear graphic effects away completely

This “Operators” block

repeat 20 selects a random This block
horizontal position selects a random
change ghost ▾ effect by 5
vertical position

glide 0.1 secs to x: pick random -150 to 150 y: pick random -150 to 150

repeat 20
This block makes the
change ghost ▾ effect by -5 ghost move slowly,
hidden from view
Using this block makes the
sprite fade back in
44 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Events SEE ALSO

Sensing 66–67
and detecting

The brown “Events” blocks in Scratch start scripts
when certain things happen. For example, when
Sending 70–71
messages

the user presses a key, clicks a sprite, or uses
a webcam or microphone.

Clicking LINGO
A script can be added to a sprite that makes it do What is an event?
something if the sprite is clicked while the program
is running. Experiment with different blocks to see An event is something that
happens, such as a key being
what a sprite can do when clicked.
pressed or the green flag being
Drag this block
from the “Events” clicked. The blocks that look for
menu to start events go at the top of a script.
the script The script waits until the event
when this sprite clicked happens, and then it runs.

play sound meow ▾ until done

△ Click a sprite The cat sprite

already has this
This script makes the cat sprite sound effect
meow when you click it. attached to it

Key presses
Programs can be built to react when different
keys on the keyboard are pressed. For another
way of using the keyboard that’s better for
creating games, see pages 66–67.
Choose the
Choose the key here
key here
Change the
text here
when h ▾ key pressed when g ▾ key pressed

say Hello! for 1 secs say Goodbye! for 1 secs

△ Say hello △ Say goodbye

Add this script to a sprite and when the This script uses the G key to make a sprite
H key is pressed, the sprite says “Hello!” say “Goodbye!”
 EVENTS 45
Sound events EXPERT TIPS
If your computer has a microphone, sprites can Asking permission
detect how loud the sounds in a room are on a
scale of 0 (very quiet) to 100 (very loud). Use the Scratch asks for permission
to use your webcam and
“when loudness > 10” block to make a script start
microphone. When the box
when the sounds are loud enough. pops up, click “Allow.”

Make the cat sensitive to noise Shout at the cat

1 Start a new project, and add the “room3” 2 Shout into the microphone—the cat will
backdrop image from the backdrop library. jump out of its seat with fright and meow. It
Drag the cat sprite on to the chair and add will also respond to music and other sounds
the script shown here. if they are loud enough.
Change the
number to 40

when loudness ▾ > 40 This makes the

cat jump up
go to x: 145 y: 130

play sound meow ▾ until done

go to x: 145 y: 0 This makes the cat

fall back down

Change the
Webcam motion detector number to 40
If you have a webcam, it can be used when video motion ▾ > 40
with Scratch too. Add this script to the play sound meow ▾ until done
cat, and when you wave at it through
the webcam, it will meow back. △ Detect motion
Use the “when loudness > 10” block. Click the menu
to change “loudness” to “video motion.” The script will
start when you’re moving around enough.

EXPERT TIPS
Backdrop changes
Choose the
A sprite can react to the backdrop backdrop here
changing. For example, you can have a
backdrop that makes the sprite disappear.
when backdrop switches to desert ▾
Upload a new backdrop from the stage
list in the bottom left of the screen, and hide
then add the “when backdrop switches Hides the sprite when
to backdrop1” block to do this. the backdrop changes
46 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Simple loops SEE ALSO

Complex 68–69
loops

A loop is a part of a program that repeats itself. The
loop blocks (from the “Control” section) tell Scratch
Loops 122–123
in Python

which blocks to repeat, and how many times. They save
us from adding the same blocks over and over again.
Drop blocks inside this loop
to repeat the actions forever

Forever loop forever

Whatever you put inside the “forever” block move 10 steps
repeats itself forever. There’s no option to
join anything at the bottom, because a if on edge, bounce
“forever” loop never ends.

No option to add △ Looping forever

When the actions
more Scratch blocks When the last block inside the finish the program
loop ends, the loop goes back goes back to the start
to the start again. of the loop again

Repeat loop
To repeat an action a certain number of times, use a
“repeat 10” block. Change the number in it to set how
many times the loop will repeat itself. Add the “Dinosaur1” REMEMBER
sprite to a new project and build it this script. Loop block shape
The loop blocks are shaped like
when clicked
jaws. Drop the blocks that you
repeat 3 Change the number to 3 want to repeat into the jaws, so
the loop wraps around them. As
switch costume to dinosaur 1-d ▾ you add more blocks, the jaws
stretch to make room for them.
wait 0.5 secs The sprite stands up straight

switch costume to dinosaur 1-c ▾

wait 0.5 secs The sprite stands

on one leg

You can add more blocks

△ Dancing dino after a “repeat” loop
When the green flag is clicked,
the dinosaur dances. He repeats
his dance moves three times.
 SIMPLE LOOPS 47
Nested loops
Loops can also be “nested,” which means they can be put
inside each other. In this script, the dinosaur finishes his
dance by walking right and left and then thinking for a Try giving
me some
moment. When he’s got his breath back, he dances again looping music!
and stops only when you click the red stop button.

Click on the green flag above

the stage to start the script

▷ Loops in loops
This “forever” loop when clicked
has several repeat
loops inside it. Make forever
sure the blocks are
inside the right loops, repeat 3
otherwise the program
won’t work properly. switch costume to dinosaur 1-d ▾

wait 0.5 secs

The “forever” switch costume to dinosaur 1-c ▾

block surrounds
everything wait 0.5 secs

The previous
dance move repeat 3
(see opposite)
move 20 steps

wait 0.5 secs

The dinosaur
moves three
steps to the right wait 1 secs
This block creates
repeat 3 a short pause

move -20 steps

wait 0.5 secs

The dinosaur
moves three
steps to the left

think I love to dance! for 2 secs

Type in what you want the dinosaur to

think—it will appear in a thought bubble
48 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Pens and turtles SEE ALSO

 44–45 Events
Each sprite has a pen tool that can draw a line  46–47 Simple loops
behind it wherever it goes. To create a picture,
turn on the pen and then move the sprite across
the stage, like moving a pen across paper.

Pen blocks pen down pen up

The dark green blocks are used to
control the pen. Each sprite has its own Turns the Turns the
pen on pen off
pen that can be turned on by using the
“pen down” block and turned off using
the “pen up” block. The size and color clear stamp
of the pen can also be changed.
Clears all drawings Leaves a picture
of the sprite

△ Playing with pens

Experiment with how you can use
the pen blocks to make drawings.

Draw a square
To draw a square, you simply put the pen The sprite will
leave a line
down on the stage and then move the sprite behind it
in a square shape. Use a loop to draw the four
sides and turn the corners.

when clicked

Draws a line pen down

Turns the
of the square
pen on
repeat 4
Turns the
▷ Change the shape corners
move 100 steps
This code will draw a
square. To draw a triangle, turn 90 degrees
change the “repeat” loop
to repeat three times wait 1 secs
for the three sides, and Makes it easier
change the turn from to see what’s
90 to 120 degrees. happening
 PENS AND TURTLES 49
Skywriting
In this program, you control a plane. As you fly it will leave
You can only use
a smoke trail, so you can draw in the sky. Start a new project colors that appear
and add the plane sprite, then add this script. on the Scratch
interface. To select
▷ Flying high red, click in the square
when clicked and then click on
Use the left and right keys to turn the
the red stop button
plane. Switch on the smoke with the “a” set size to 20 % above the stage
key and turn it off with the “z” key. Press
the spacebar to clear the sky. set pen color to

set pen size to 3

forever Makes the

line thicker
move 2 steps

if on edge, bounce
Keeps the
Keeps the plane
plane moving
on the stage

LINGO when right arrow ▾ key pressed

Turtle graphics turn 10 degrees
Rotates
Using sprites to draw pictures right
is called “turtle graphics.”
That’s because there’s a type of when left arrow ▾ key pressed
robot called a turtle that can be
moved around the floor to draw turn 10 degrees
pictures. The first programming Rotates
left
language to use turtle graphics
was called LOGO.
when a ▾ key pressed

pen down
Turns the pen on

when z ▾ key pressed

pen up
Turns the
pen off

when space ▾ key pressed

clear
Clears the pen trail
50 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Variables SEE ALSO

Maths 52–53 
In coding, a variable is the name for a place Variables 108–109
in Python

where you can store information. Variables are
used to remember things such as the score, a
player’s name, or a character’s speed.

Creating a variable ◁ Storing data

You can create a variable to use in your program Variables are like boxes
where you can store
using the “Data” section of the blocks palette. Once different bits of
a variable has been created, new blocks appear in information for use
the blocks palette ready for you to use. in your program.

Make a variable Name the new variable

1 First, click the “Data” button in the blocks 2 Give the variable a name that will help you
palette. Then select the “Make a Variable” button. to remember what it does. Select which sprites
will use the variable, then click “OK.”
Scripts Costumes Sounds
Type in a
name for your Choose whether the variable
Motion Events will be used by all sprites or
variable here
Looks Control just the one selected

Click the Sound Sensing

New Variable
“Data” Pen Operators
button Variable name: steps
Data More Blocks
For all sprites For this sprite only
Make a Variable Cloud variable (stored on server)

Make a List OK Cancel

Click here to
create a variable
Tick to show the The variable block can be
variable on the stage used inside other blocks

A new variable is created

3 Once a new variable has been
steps Use this block to give
the variable a value
created, new blocks appear in the blocks
palette. The menus inside these blocks let set steps ▾ to 0 Change the value of a
you select which variable they apply to, if variable using this block.
you have created more than one. A negative number will
change steps ▾ by 1 decrease its value
 VA R I A B L E S 51
Using a variable
Variables can be used to change a sprite’s speed.
This simple script shows you how.

Set the value of a variable Changing the value of a variable

1 Create this script. Use the “set steps to 0” block 2 Use the “change steps by 1” block to increase the
and change the number to 5. Drag the “move 10 steps” value of the variable “steps” by 1. Put it inside the
block into the script, but drop the “steps” variable “forever” block, so the cat keeps on getting faster.
block over the “10.”
This sets the value
of the “steps” The “steps”
when clicked variable to 5 when clicked variable keeps
on increasing as
set steps ▾ to 5 set steps ▾ to 0 the “forever” loop
goes around and
Here, “steps” means 5, as the around
forever value has been set above forever

move steps steps change steps ▾ by 1

if on edge, bounce move steps steps

if on edge, bounce
Set my speed using
the “set steps to 0”
block.

EXPERT TIPS
Read-only variables
Deleting variables Some variables are set by Scratch and can’t
When you no longer want a variable, be changed. They’re still variables, though,
right-click on it in the blocks palette and because their values vary. These blocks are
then select “delete variable.” You’ll lose known as sensing blocks.
any information that was in it.
Tracks the distance to
distance to ▾
something, such as the
Make a Variable
Variables can mouse-pointer.
be renamed
Make a List Reports the number of
here
costume # the costume a sprite is
steps wearing.
rename variable
Tells you which direction
direction a sprite is travelling in.
delete variable
52 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Math SEE ALSO

 50–51 Variables
As well as storing numbers in variables (see pp.50–51), Math 112–113
in Python

Scratch can be used to carry out all sorts of calculations
using the “Operator” blocks.

Doing sums
There are four “Operator” blocks
that can be used to do simple 7 + 22 64 – 28
calculations. These are addition, △ Addition △ Subtraction
subtraction, multiplication, The “+” block adds the two The “–” block subtracts the
and division. numbers in the block together. second number from the first.

The “think” block is used

here to print the result

think 2 + 5 11 * 10 120 / 4

△ Printing results △ Multiplication △ Division

Drag a “think” block into the scripts area and Computers use the “*” There’s no division sign on
drop a “+” block inside it. Now add two numbers symbol for multiplication, the keyboard, so Scratch
together and watch your sprite think the answer. because “x” looks like a letter. uses the “/” symbol instead.

Results in a variable
Variables are useful if you
For more complex calculations, such as fixing want to repeat the same sum
the sale price of an item, instead of just using with different values.
numbers you can use the value of a variable in
a sum. The result can be stored in a variable too.

Create variables Set the price

1 Go to the “Data” section of the 2 Select the “set price”
set price ▾ to 50
blocks palette and create two block and fix the price of Use the drop-down
variables—“sale price” and “price”. an item to 50. menu to select “price”

Calculate the sale price

3 Use this script to set sale price ▾ to price / 2
calculate half the price of an
item and set it as the sale price. Drag the “price” variable
into the window to Add the “/” block inside
divide the price by 2 the “set sale price” block
 M AT H 53
Random numbers EXPERT TIPS
The “pick random” block can be used to select a Gaming
random number between two values. This block
is useful for rolling dice in a game or for when Computers often use random
numbers to add surprises to
you want to mix up a sprite’s costumes.
games. For example, an alien can
be made to appear in a random
◁ Pick a random number
pick random 1 to 10 place, or after a random amount
To pick a random month,
of time. It can be used to select
You can change change the numbers to
choose a number between
a random value, as if you were
the numbers
1 and 12. rolling a dice, or a random
in the block
costume for a sprite.

This block makes the

when clicked sprite wait for two Chooses a costume
seconds before switching between 1 and 3
forever to another costume at random

wait 2 sec
◁ Switching costumes
switch costume to pick random 1 to 3
This script changes a sprite’s
costume at random every
two seconds.

◁ Random costumes
Costumes can make a sprite
appear to move its body,
or might give it different
clothes, as shown here.

Hard math 10 mod 3 Divides 10 by 3 and gives

Simple “Operator” blocks can do most the remainder—the
Gives nearest whole number that is left over
calculations, but Scratch can also do number to 44.7
more complex math. The “mod”
block divides two numbers and gives round 44.7
the remainder, which is the number ◁ More math
Choose different functions
that is left over. The “round” block from the drop-down menu The “Operator” section
has blocks of advanced
rounds to the nearest whole number, sqrt ▾ of 9 math functions that
and the “sqrt” block gives the square can be used to do
root of a number. Calculates the square root of 9 complex calculations.
54 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Strings and lists SEE ALSO

 50–51 Variables
In programming, a sequence of letters and symbols Strings 114–115
in Python

is called a “string”. Strings can contain any character
on the keyboard (including spaces) and be of any length.
Strings can also be grouped together in lists. Keyboard characters are lined
up as if they were hanging
from a string

A B C D E F G H I
Create a new variable
Working with words 1 Click the “Data” button in the blocks palette
Programs often need to remember words, and click the “Make a Variable” button. Create a
such as a player’s name. Variables can be variable called “greeting”.
created to remember these words. Scratch
programs can also ask the user questions,
which they answer by typing into a text Make a Variable
box that pops up. The following script asks Make a List Name your
variable “greeting”
for the user’s name, and then makes a
sprite say “Hello” to them. greeting

This block puts “Hello ” into the variable

“greeting”. Leave a space at the end of “Hello ”
Asking a question to make the output of the program neater
2 This script makes the
when clicked
sprite ask a question. The “ask” box (from the “Sensing”
Whatever the user types set greeting ▾ to Hello section of the blocks palette) makes
into the text box that pops a text box appear, which the user
up on the screen is stored ask What’s your name? and wait types their answer into
in a new variable called
“answer”. The script then say join greeting answer
combines the strings
contained in the “greeting”
and “answer” variables to The “answer” variable
greet to the user. (from the “Sensing”
The “say” bubble The “greeting” section) contains
creates a speech variable holds the whatever the user
bubble for the sprite string “Hello ” typed into the text box
 STRINGS AND LISTS 55
Making lists
Variables are perfect if you just want to remember one thing. To remember
lots of similar things, lists can be used instead. Lists can store many items of
data (numbers and strings) at the same time—for example, all of the high
scores in a game. The following program shows one way of using a list.

Create a list Using your list

1 Start a new project. Go into the 2 This script asks the user to type words into a
“Data” section of the blocks palette and list. Each word appears in the sprite’s speech bubble
click the “Make a List” button. Give your list as it is added to the list.
the name “sentence”. This block makes sure the
list is empty at the start
of the program
when clicked
Make a Variable
delete all ▾ of sentence ▾
Select “Make
Make a List The “ask” block asks the
a List”
forever user to type in a word

sentence ask Add a word and wait

Call your list add answer to sentence ▾

“sentence” This adds the
user’s answer think sentence for 2 secs
to the list

The “think” block Adding “sentence” here means

makes a thought that the list will be shown in the
bubble appear thought bubble

Seeing the list

3 If you check the box beside the list in
EXPERT TIPS
the blocks palette, the list is shown on the Playing with lists
stage. You can see each new word as it’s
added to the list. These blocks can be used to change the contents of a list.
Each item in a list has a number—the first item is number 1,
and so on. These numbers can be used to remove, insert,
sentence or replace items.
Deletes the first
1 apple item in the list
delete 1 ▾ of sentence ▾ Adds “cherry” as the
2 pear Scratch first item in the list
keeps track
3 banana of how
insert cherry at 1 ▾ of sentence ▾ Replaces the
many words first list item
4 orange are added with “cherry”
to the list
replace item 1 ▾ of sentence ▾ with cherry
length: 4
56 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Coordinates SEE ALSO

 38–39 Making
things move
To put a sprite in a particular spot, or to find out its
exact location, you can use coordinates. Coordinates
 52–53 Math
are a pair of numbers that pinpoint a sprite’s position
on the stage using an x and y grid.

x and y positions x: 240 y: 180

The x and y positions of a sprite and the
△ Position of the mouse-pointer
mouse-pointer are shown on the Scratch
The mouse-pointer’s coordinates are shown at the
interface. It can be helpful to know a bottom right of the stage. Move the mouse-pointer
sprite’s coordinates when writing a script. over the stage and watch the coordinates change.

◁ Position of a sprite ◁ Show coordinates

x position
You can see a sprite’s on the stage
current coordinates in the Check the boxes beside the
top right corner of y position “x position” and “y position”
the scripts area. blocks to show a sprite’s
x: -126
position on the stage.
y: 96

x and y grid Untitled

To pinpoint a spot, count the number of by abcd (unshared)

steps left or right, and up or down, from 180

the middle of the stage. Steps to the left y
or right are called “x”. Steps up or down are
120
called “y”. Use negative numbers to move
left and down. (x: –100, y: 100)
60
(x: 180, y: 50)

–180 –120 –60 60 120 180 x

The stage is based
upon an x and y grid –60

–120

(x: 90, y: –130)

(x: –190, y: –150) –180
This sprite is 190 steps left (–190)
and 150 steps down (–150) from
the middle of the stage
 C O O R D I N AT E S 57
Moving the sprite +y Positive numbers
Coordinates are used to move a sprite to a particular move sprites up
and right, negative
spot on the stage. It doesn’t matter how near or far numbers move
away the spot is. The “glide 1 secs to x:0 y:0” block from them down and left
the “Motion” section of the blocks palette makes the
sprite glide there smoothly. -x +x
Change the coordinate
numbers to make the sprite
go somewhere else
when clicked Moves the -y Moves to the
middle of the stage
sprite left
glide 1 secs to x: 150 y: 100

glide 1 secs to x: -150 y: -100 change x by -10 set x to 0

glide 1 secs to x: -200 y: 100

glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0 change y by 125 set y to 180

△ Control the sprite with a script △ Change x and y separately

Can you work out the path the sprite These blocks can be used to change Moves up
to the top
will take when you run this script? x without changing y, and the other
of the stage
Try it and see! way around.

Crazy horse’s trip

Try this fun script to test out coordinates.
Select the “Horse1” sprite from the sprite list
and give it the below script. This program
uses the “go to x:0 y:0” block to keep moving
the horse to a random position, drawing a
line behind it as it goes.

when clicked

pen down This block leaves a line

when the horse moves
forever

go to x: pick random -240 to 240 y: pick random -180 to 180

wait 0.2 secs

This block from the “Operators” menu Selects a random
selects a random horizontal position vertical position
58 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Make some noise! SEE ALSO

Sensing 66–67
and detecting

Scratch programs don’t have to be silent. Use the pink
“Sound” blocks to try out sound effects and create music.
Monkey 74–81
mayhem

You can also use sound files you already have or record
brand new sounds for your program.

Click the “Sounds” tab

Adding sounds to sprites to show the sound
To play a sound, it must be added to a option buttons

sprite. Each sprite has its own set of sounds.

To control them, click the “Sounds” tab
Scripts Costumes Sounds
above the blocks palette.
Click here to select a New sound:
sound effect from
Scratch’s library

Upload a recording
Record a sound using from the computer
the computer’s
microphone

Playing a sound Turn up the volume

There are two blocks that play sounds: “play Each sprite has its own volume control,
sound” and “play sound until done.” Until which is set using numbers. 0 is silent
done” makes the program wait until the and 100 is the loudest.
sound has finished before it moves on.
100 is the maximum volume
Use the menu to choose
which sound to play
set volume to 100 %

This block makes a sprite louder

play sound meow ▾
or quieter—use a negative
number to make it quieter

change volume by -10

play sound meow ▾ until done

Ticking this box makes

The next block in the script will the sprite’s volume
not run until after the meow show on the stage volume
sound has finished playing
 MAKE SOME NOISE! 59
Making your own music
Scratch has blocks that can be used to invent musical
sounds. You have a whole orchestra of instruments to
conduct, as well as a full drum kit. The length of each
note is measured in beats.
This decides how low or high
the pitch of a note is

play note 60 ▾ for 0.5 beats set instrument to 1 ▾

Big numbers make a note Click here to choose

longer. It can also be shorter an instrument from a
than a beat, as shown here drop-down menu

play drum 1 ▾ for 0.25 beats rest for 0.25 beats

Use this menu to choose between This block adds a silent break in the
different types of drum music. Higher numbers will give you
a longer break

EXPERT TIPS
Playing music Tempo
Connecting notes together makes a tune. Create a new
variable called “note” (see pages 50–51), and then add The speed of music is called its
the script below to any sprite to create a piece of music. tempo. The tempo decides how
long a beat is within a piece of
music. There are three blocks for
Set the value of the managing the tempo.
when clicked variable “note” first
set tempo to 60 bpm
set note ▾ to 1 Choose an instrument
The tempo is measured in beats per
set instrument to 1▾ Add a “forever” minute, or “bpm.”
loop around these
forever two blocks
change tempo by 60
change note ▾ by 1
Increase the tempo to make your
play note note for 0.5 beats music faster, or use a negative number
to make it slower.
Drag the “note” variable
from the “Data” section
of the blocks palette tempo
△ Rising scale
This script makes a series of notes that play when the green Checking this box makes the sprite’s
flag is clicked. The pitch of each note gets higher one step tempo show on the stage.
at a time, and each note plays for half a beat.
60 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

PROJECT 2

Roll the dice SEE ALSO

 40–41 Costumes
Simple programs can be both useful and fun.  46–47 Simple loops
This program creates a dice that can be rolled.  50–51 Variables
Play it to see who can get the highest number,  52–53 Math
or use it instead of a real dice when you play
a board game.

How to create a rolling dice

The dice in this program uses six costumes. Each costume
shows a face of the dice with a different number on it—
from one to six.

Select the paintbrush button Click the rectangle button on the left of the
1 under the stage to draw a 2 painting area. To make your dice colorful, select a
new sprite. solid color from the palette (see box below). Then
in the painting area hold down the “shift” key,
New sprite: press the left mouse button, and then drag the
mouse-pointer to make a square in the middle.

Draws a
The rectangle button
new sprite
makes a square when
the “shift” key is pressed
EXPERT TIPS
Changing colors
Under the painting area are the Click for outline Click for block Currently
color controls. Click the solid of block of solid color selected color
rectangle to draw a block of
solid color. Click the empty
rectangle to draw an outline
of a square or rectangle. Use the
slider to change the thickness
of the square’s lines. To choose
a color, simply click it.

Click on Choose a Use this to select

Change the line this box for color from the a color already
width using the slider more colors color palette on the drawing
 ROLL THE DICE 61

Right-click on your costume to the left of the painting area, and

EXPERT TIPS
3 choose “duplicate”. Repeat this step until you have six costumes.

1 Use the menu

Rotation tool
to duplicate the
To make the dice appear to roll
dice costume
duplicate when the script is run, you can
rotate each costume to a different
delete angle. Click on the “Convert to
costume1 vector” button in the bottom
123x123 save to local file
right-hand corner. When you click
back on to the painting area, a
Select a costume. Click the circle button rotation tool will appear.
4 on the painting area and choose a solid Click and drag
white color from the palette. Add spots this control to
to each of the six costumes until you rotate the dice
have made all six sides of a dice.
The circle button makes a
perfect circle when the
“shift” key is pressed “costume5”
has 5 spots

Add the script below to the dice sprite. Press

5 the spacebar to roll the dice. Try it a few times
to check that you can see all of the costumes.
Clicking the spacebar
when space ▾ key pressed rolls the dice

switch costume to pick random 1 to 6

Sometimes you’ll roll the same number twice, and it looks like This block selects
a random costume
6 the program isn’t working because the image doesn’t change. This
script makes the dice change costumes five times before it stops.
Each time you press the spacebar, it looks like it’s rolling.

when space ▾ key pressed Each costume is a

different dice number
repeat 5

switch costume to pick random 1 to 6

wait 0.2 secs

Add a short pause to Don’t forget to save

see the dice rolling your work
62 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

True or false? SEE ALSO

Decisions and 64–65
branches

Computers decide what to do by asking questions
and determining whether the answers are true or false.
Making 118–119
decisions

Questions that only have two possible answers are
called “Boolean expressions”.

◁ The “=” block

Comparing numbers =
This block will give one of two answers:
You can compare numbers using the “true” if the two numbers in the boxes
“=” block from the “Operators” section are equal, and “false” if they aren’t.
of the blocks palette.
The numbers are These numbers
equal, so “true” true are not equal, so false
appears in the “false” appears in
speech bubble the speech bubble

say 3 = 3 say 3 = 2

△ True answer △ False answer

Using an “=” block inside a speech block will make If the numbers in the block are different, the sprite’s
“true” or “false” appear in a sprite’s speech bubble. speech bubble will contain the word “false”.

This sign means “equals”, so the

Comparing variables block is asking if “age” is equal
You can use variables inside to 7. The answer here is “false”,
because “age” is 10
comparison blocks. It’s not worth age = 7
comparing fixed numbers
This sign means “more than”,
because the result will always be so the block is asking if “age” is
the same, whereas the value of greater than 11. The answer
is “false”, because 10 is not
variables can change. bigger than 11
age > 11

set age ▾ to 10
This sign means “less than”, so the
block is asking if “age” is less than
△ Create a variable 18. The answer will be “true”, as 10
Click the “Data” button in the blocks age < 18 is smaller than 18
palette and create a new variable called
“age”. Set its value to 10 (click on the △ Comparing numbers
block to make sure the value has Find the green comparison blocks in the “Operators” menu.
changed). Drag the “age” variable into As well as checking whether two numbers are equal, you can
the comparison blocks. check whether one is greater or less than another.
 T R U E O R FA L S E ? 63
EXPERT TIPS
Comparing words
The “=” block is not just used for numbers; The variable “name”
contains “Lizzie”, so the
it can also be used to check whether two answer is true
strings are the same. It ignores capital
letters when comparing strings. name = Lizzie

set name ▾ to Lizzie Drag and drop the The answer is false
variable into the because the variable
comparison block doesn’t contain “Dan”
△ Create a variable
To experiment with comparing strings,
create a new variable called “name” and name = Dan
set its value to “Lizzie”.

Not!
◁ The “not” block
The “not” block can simplify things by reversing not
The “not” block changes the
the answer of a Boolean expression. For example, answer around, from true to
it’s easier to check if someone’s age is not 10 false and from false to true.
than to check every other possible age.

age = 7 not age = 7

△ Without the “not” block △ With the “not” block

Here, 10 isn’t equal to 7, so the Adding the “not” block to the same question changes the
answer is false. answer. Because 7 does not equal 10, the answer is now true.

Combining questions or
To ask more complicated questions, you can combine
comparison blocks and ask more than one question and
at the same time.
△ Comparison blocks
The “or” and “and” blocks are used
to combine Boolean expressions
age < 18 or age > 65 in different ways.

Here, the answer is true The answer here is only

when either the left or true when both the left ◁ In practice
the right side is true and right sides are true
The top block checks whether
someone is younger than 18 or older
age > 10 and age < 15 than 65. The bottom block checks if
they are aged 11, 12, 13, or 14.
64 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Decisions and branches SEE ALSO

 62–63 True
or false?
Tests of whether something is true or false can be
used to tell the computer what to do next. It will
Sensing and 66–67
detecting

perform a different action depending on whether
the answer is true or false.
Drag a Boolean if then
expression into
Making decisions this window

The “if” blocks use Boolean if then else

expressions to decide what to If false, blocks in the
do next. To use them, put other “else” jaws will run
blocks inside their “jaws”. The
blocks inside the “if” blocks will
only run if the answer to the △ “if-then” block △ “if-then-else” block
Boolean expression is true. If a Boolean expression is If the Boolean expression is
true, the blocks between the true, the first set of blocks runs.
“if-then” block’s jaws will run. If not, the second set runs.

Using the “if-then” block

The “if-then” block lets you choose whether or not to run
part of a script depending on the answer to a Boolean
expression. Attach this script to the cat sprite to try it out.

Drag the “=” block from the Is answer yes?

when clicked “Operators” section into the
“if-then” block. Then put the
ask Do you want me to meow? and wait “answer” variable (from the True False
“Sensing” section) inside it
if answer = yes then
This block is inside the jaws
play sound meow ▾ until done of the “if-then” block, so the
cat will only meow if the
answer is true (“yes”)
Play Skip
think hmm for 2 secs This is the end of the meow meow
“if-then” block
think Time to eat some fish! for 2 secs △ How it works
The program checks
△ Meowing cat These “think” blocks are
outside the “if-then”
whether the Boolean
This program checks the Boolean expression and will only loop, so they will run expression is true. If it is,
run the part between the “if-then” block’s jaws if it is true. whatever the answer it runs the blocks inside
This means that the cat only meows when you tell it to. to the question is the “if-then” block’s jaws.
 DECISIONS AND BRANCHES 65
Branching instructions
Often you want a program to do one thing if a condition is true,
and something else if it is not. The “if-then-else” block gives a
program two possible routes, called “branches”. Only one branch
will run, depending on the answer to the Boolean expression. Is answer yes?
▽ Branching program
True False
This program has two branches: one
will run if the answer is “yes”, and the
when clicked other will run if it is not.

ask Do you like me? and wait

if answer = yes then

say say
This branch will run “I like “That’s not
say I like you too! for 2 secs if the answer to the
question is “yes”
you too!” very friendly!”
else △ How it works
The program checks whether
say That’s not very friendly! for 2 secs
you typed in “yes”. If so, it
shows the first message. If not,
it shows the second.

This branch will run if the

EXPERT TIPS answer to the question is
anything except “yes”
Boolean shapes
The Boolean expression blocks in Scratch
have pointed ends. You can put them into
some nonpointed shaped holes too.

mouse down?

△ ”Sensing” blocks
These blocks can test whether a sprite is touching
another sprite, or whether a button is pressed.

repeat until

△ ”Control” blocks ▷ Branches

Several “Control” blocks have Boolean-shaped Like the branches of a tree,
holes in them for Boolean expressions. branches of a program split
and go in different directions.
66 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Sensing and detecting SEE ALSO

 40–41 Costumes
The “Sensing” blocks enable a script to see what is  56–57 Coordinates
happening on your computer. They can detect keyboard
controls, and let sprites react when they touch each other. This block checks if a key is
being pressed. You can choose
which key to check for
Keyboard controls
Using “Sensing” blocks with “if-then” blocks allows you key space ▾ pressed?
to move a sprite around the screen using the keyboard. This block checks if the mouse
The “key pressed?” block has a menu of most of the button is being pressed
keys on the keyboard, so a sprite can be programmed
to react to any key. You can also link actions to the mouse down?
click of a mouse button. △ “Sensing” blocks
Putting everything inside a Adding these blocks into an “if-then” block
“forever” block means the
allows the program to detect if a mouse
script repeatedly checks for
key presses button or key is being pressed.
when clicked

forever The script checks to see if the up

arrow is pressed. If it is, the sprite
moves upwards on the screen
if key up arrow ▾ pressed? then

change y by 10

if key down arrow ▾ pressed? then

change y by -10

if key left arrow ▾ pressed? then

change x by -10
△ Controlling sprites
Keyboard controls give you
precise control over your
if key right arrow ▾ pressed? then sprites, which is especially
useful in games.
change x by 10
◁ Movement script
This script lets you move sprites
up, down, left, or right using the
arrow keys on the keyboard.
 SENSING AND DETECTING 67
Use this block to identify when a sprite
Sprite collisions touches another sprite
It can be useful to know when
one sprite touches another—in touching frog ▾ ?
games, for example. Use “Sensing” This block senses when a
blocks to make things happen sprite touches an area of
a particular color
when sprites touch each other, or
when a sprite crosses an area that
touching color ?
is a certain color.

Using “Sensing” blocks

Use the “Sensing” blocks to turn your controllable cat
into a game. Start by adding the movement script
created on the opposite page to the cat sprite, then
add the “room1” backdrop and the elephant sprite.
Using the “Sounds” tab, add the “trumpet2” sound effect
to the elephant, then build it the script below.

▽ Find the elephant

This script uses “Sensing” blocks to control the
relationship between the cat and the elephant. As the
cat gets nearer, the elephant grows. When the cat
touches it, the elephant switches costume, makes a
sound, and hides somewhere else.

The “forever” loop keeps This checks how far the

when clicked sensing and adjusting the cat is from the elephant
elephant’s size and position
forever

set size to 200 – distance to Sprite1 ▾ %

if touching Sprite1 ▾ ? then The farther away the

cat is, the smaller the
elephant will be
switch costume to elephant-b ▾
If the sprites touch, the
play sound trumpet2 ▾ until done blocks inside the
“if-then” block run
switch costume to elephant-a ▾

go to x: pick random -240 to 240 y: pick random -180 to 180

This block selects a

random place for the
elephant to hide
68 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Complex loops SEE ALSO

 46–47 Simple
loops
Simple loops are used to repeat parts of a program
forever, or a certain number of times. Other, cleverer
 62–63 True
or false?
loops can be used to write programs that decide
exactly when to repeat instructions.

Looping until something happens repeat until

Add the “Dog1” sprite to a project, and then give the
below script to the cat sprite. When you run the script, the
“repeat until” block makes sure the cat keeps moving until
it touches the dog. It will then stop and say “Ouch!”
△ “Repeat until” block
This block stops the cat The blocks inside the “repeat
from standing on its head until” block keep repeating until
the condition is true (the cat
when clicked touches the dog).
Select “Dog1” from
set rotation style left-right ▾ the drop-down menu

repeat until touching Dog1 ▾ ?

move 10 steps Ouch!

These instructions keep on repeating
if on edge, bounce until the cat touches the dog

say Ouch!
This will only happen when
the cat touches the dog
△ Testing the program
Move the dog out of the cat’s way and run
the program. Then drag and drop the dog
into the cat’s path to see what happens.

Stop! This stops all scripts This stops only the script
in a program this block is in
Another useful “Control”
block is the “stop all” block, stop all ▾ This stops the sprite’s other
scripts, but continues to run
which can stop scripts from the script this block is in
all
running. It’s useful if you
want to stop sprites from this script ◁ Stopping scripts
moving at the end of a game. Use the drop-down menu to
other scripts in sprite
choose which scripts to stop.
 COMPLEX LOOPS 69
◁ Waiting blocks
Waiting wait 1 secs
The “wait secs” block waits
It’s easier to play a game or see what’s a set amount of time. The
going on in a program if you can make a wait until “wait until” block responds
script pause for a moment. Different to what’s happening in
the program.
blocks can make a script wait a number
of seconds or until something is true.
Sprite waits 5 seconds when clicked Sprite waits until
and then says something the mouse button
is pressed
forever
when clicked
wait until mouse down?
wait 5 secs
go to mouse-pointer ▾
say I’m tired of waiting
As soon as the
△ ”wait secs” block condition is true, the
With the “wait secs” block you can △ ”wait until” block sprite moves to the
enter the number of seconds you This block waits until the Boolean mouse-pointer
want a sprite to wait. expression in it is true.

Magnetic mouse The script repeats until the

mouse button is released
Different loops can be used when clicked The “not” block detects
together to make programs. when the mouse button
forever is not being pressed
This program starts once
the mouse button is wait until mouse down?
pressed. The sprite follows
the mouse-pointer until the repeat until not mouse down?
mouse button is released. It
then jumps up and down five go to mouse-pointer ▾
times. The whole thing then
repeats itself because it’s all
inside a “forever” loop. repeat 5

change y by 20

wait 0.25 secs This makes the

sprite jump up
change y by -20

wait 0.5 secs This makes the

sprite drop down
▷ Nested loops
Pay careful attention to how The “repeat 5” block
the loops are nested inside makes the sprite jump
the “forever” block. up and down five times
70 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Sending messages SEE ALSO

 38–39 Making
things move
Sometimes it’s useful for sprites to communicate
with each other. Sprites can use messages to tell
 40–41 Costumes
other sprites what to do. Scratch also lets you
 44–45 Events
create conversations between sprites. This “Events” block lets a sprite send a
message to all the other sprites

broadcast message1 ▾
Broadcasting
This block starts a script when
The broadcast blocks in the “Events” menu a sprite receives a message
enable sprites to send and receive messages.
Messages don’t contain any information other when I receive message1 ▾
than a name, but can be used to fine-tune a △ Broadcast blocks
sprite’s actions. Sprites only react to messages One type of broadcast block lets a sprite send a message.
that they are programmed to respond to— The other tells the sprite to receive a message. Choose an
they ignore any other messages. existing message or create a new one.

This message starts the script

that makes the starfish swim
away from the shark

when I receive shark_here ▾

when clicked
switch costume to starfish-b ▾
forever
glide 1 secs to x: 133 y: 91
show

broadcast shark_here ▾ Choose “new message...” The starfish glides out of

from the menu to create the shark’s way, showing
glide 5 secs to x: 150 y: -150 this name its scared costume

hide This message tells the

starfish that the shark is
broadcast shark_gone ▾ gone, so it’s safe to return

glide 5 secs to x: -150 y: 150

when I receive shark_gone ▾

△ Shark danger switch costume to starfish-a ▾

Choose two sprites—a shark and a starfish. Give the shark glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0
the script above, and the starfish the two scripts on the
right. When the shark arrives it sends a message, which The starfish glides back to the middle of
makes the starfish swim away. the screen, showing its happy costume
 SENDING MESSAGES 71
Conversations
To create a conversation between sprites use
“broadcast message and wait” blocks with “say”
blocks, which make your sprites talk using broadcast message1 ▾ and wait
speech bubbles. Start a new project and add
△ Waiting blocks
two monkey sprites to it. Give the script on the This block sends a message, then waits for all the
left to one monkey, and the two scripts on the scripts that react to the message to finish before
right to the other. the program continues.

The first monkey Hello!

starts the
conversation
Hi!

“Say” blocks let your

sprites talk using
speech bubbles
The “hello”
message triggers
The second
when clicked the second
monkey responds
monkey’s script
to the first one
say Hello! for 2 secs

broadcast hello ▾ and wait when I receive hello ▾

say How are you? for 2 secs say Hi! for 2 secs

broadcast howareyou ▾

When the second when I receive howareyou ▾

script ends, the first
script continues say Great thanks! for 2 secs
How are you?

The “howareyou”
message starts the
third script
Great thanks!

△ Chatty monkeys
This program works because it uses the “broadcast message
and wait” block. If the “broadcast message” block was used,
the monkeys would talk over each other.
72 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Creating blocks SEE ALSO

 50–51 Variables
To avoid repeating the same set of blocks over and over Time to 82–83
experiment

again, it’s possible to take a shortcut by creating new blocks.
Each new block can contain several different instructions.

Making your own block

You can make your own blocks in Scratch that run a script when
they’re used. Try this example to see how they work. Programmers
call these reusable pieces of code “subprograms” or “functions”.
Create a new block New block appears
1 Click on the “More Blocks” button, 2 Your new block “jump” appears
and then select “Make a Block”. Type the in the blocks palette, and a “define”
word “jump” and click “OK”. block appears in the scripts area.

Scripts Costumes Sounds

Make a Block

Motion Events define jump

jump
Looks Control
Sound Sensing
Pen Operators
Data More Blocks The new block Define the “jump”
block in the
Click here scripts area
to make a
Make a Block
new block

Define the block Use the block in a script

3 The “define” block tells Scratch which 4 The new block can now be used in
blocks to run when using the new block. any script. It’s as if those jumping blocks
Add this script to define the block. were in the script individually.

Starts your block

definition when clicked
define jump

forever The new block runs

change y by 50 the jumping script that
Jumps up
jump has already been defined
wait 1 secs
wait 1 secs
change y by -50
Waits 1 second before
Drops down repeating the loop
 C R E AT I N G B L O C K S 73
Blocks with inputs New Block
Windows in a new block can be used to
give it numbers and words to work with. slide steps and shout greeting
These holes can be used to change
how far the block moves a sprite. ▾ Options
Add number input:
Click here to see
all of the options Add string input:

Add boolean input:

Make a new block Add label text: text

1 Make a new block called “slide” and then
Run without screen refresh
click on “Options”. Now select “Add number
input” and type “steps”. Select “Add label text”
and change it to “and shout”. Click “Add string OK Cancel
input” and call it “greeting”. Then click “OK”.
The steps The greeting
variable variable

Define the block

2 In the “define” block, define slide steps and shout greeting
the holes are replaced with
variables called “steps” and change x by steps Drag variables from
“greeting”. Drag these the “define” block
variables from the “define” into the script
say greeting for 1 secs
block into the script wherever
you need them. Add this
script to your sprite. change x by 0 – steps

This block makes the

number of steps negative
Use the block in a script
3 Now add the below script to a sprite.
By putting different numbers of steps and Starts the script Use a sensible name
greetings into the block, you can make when the spacebar for a new block so the
your sprite behave differently. is pressed program will be easier
to read and change.

The sprite slides

when space ▾ key pressed 20 steps and
shouts “hello”
slide 20 and shout hello

wait 1 secs Now the sprite slides

80 steps and shouts
slide 80 and shout how’s it going? “how’s it going?”
74 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

PROJECT 3

Monkey mayhem SEE ALSO

 40–41 Costumes
This exciting, fast-paced game brings together all of the  38–39 Making
things move
Scratch skills you’ve learned so far. Follow these steps to
create your very own “Monkey mayhem” and see if you
66–67 Sensing and
detecting
can hit the bat with the bananas!
EXPERT TIPS
Getting started Avoiding errors
Start a new Scratch project. The cat sprite isn’t needed
This is the biggest Scratch
for this project. To remove it, right-click on it in the program you’ve tried so far, so you
sprite list and then click “delete” in the menu. This will might find that the game doesn’t
leave you a blank project to work on. always work as you expect it to.
Here are some tips to help things
run smoothly:
Add a new backdrop from the
Make sure you add scripts to the
1 backdrop library. This button is Stage
correct sprite.
found to the left of the sprite list. 1 backdrop
Follow the instructions carefully.
Remember to make a variable before
Click here to add a New backdrop: using it.
new backdrop from Check that all the numbers in the
the backdrop library blocks are correct.

Double-click to select the “brick wall1”

Monkey mayhem
2 backdrop. The brick wall works well for
by abcd (unshared)
this game, but if you prefer, you could
use a different backdrop instead.

Double-click on a
backdrop in the backdrop
library to make it appear
on the stage
 M O N K E Y M AY H E M 75

Go to the sprite library to

3 add a new sprite to the Sprites New sprite:
game. Select “Monkey1”
from the “Animals” section. Click here to
The user will control this choose a new sprite
sprite in the game. from the library

Monkey1

Give the monkey the script below. Remember—all of the different

4 blocks can be found in the blocks palette, organized by color. In
this script, “Sensing” blocks are used to move the monkey around
the stage using the keyboard arrow keys. Run the script when
you’ve finished to check it works.

This “Motion” block keeps

the monkey upright
when clicked The arrow keys on the
keyboard will make the
monkey run left and right
set rotation style left-right ▾

go to x: 0 y: -90 Moves the monkey to

his start position at the This “Sensing” block detects when
bottom of the stage the left arrow key is pressed
forever

if key left arrow ▾ pressed? then

point in direction -90 ▾ –90 makes the monkey

point to the left
move 10 steps
This block makes the monkey look like it is
next costume walking by switching between its costumes

if key right arrow ▾ pressed? then

point in direction 90 ▾ 90 makes the monkey

point to the right
move 10 steps
Moves the
next costume monkey 10 steps

Don’t forget to save

your work
76 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

MONKEY MAYHEM
Adding more sprites
The monkey can now be moved across the stage using
the left and right arrow keys. To make the game more
interesting, add some more sprites. Give the monkey
some bananas to throw, and a bat to throw them at!

This makes the

Add the “Bananas” sprite from the sprite
when clicked bananas stay upright 5 library, then give it this script. When the
game starts, the monkey will be holding
set rotation style left-right ▾ the bananas. When the spacebar is
pressed, they will shoot vertically up
point in direction 0 ▾ Sets the bananas’ the stage. The bananas then reappear
direction to up at one side of the stage, where they can
show This block makes the bananas be picked up again.
visible on the stage—they’ll
forever be hidden later

repeat until key space ▾ pressed?

go to Monkey1 ▾ The bananas will stick

to the monkey until the
spacebar is pressed

repeat 35 This loop moves the

bananas up the stage
move 10 steps

if pick random 1 to 2 = 1 then

go to x: 210 y: -140
This “if-then-else” block
makes the bananas reappear
else
on either the right or left
side of the stage, randomly
go to x: -210 y: -140

show

wait until touching Monkey1 ▾ ?

This makes the script wait until the

monkey picks up the bananas
 M O N K E Y M AY H E M 77

Name the
The next step is to add a flying bat and make it drop
New Variable new variable
6 to the ground if it’s hit by the bananas. Add “Bat2” “Speed”
from the sprite library, then create a new variable Variable name: Speed
called “Speed” (for the bat sprite only). To create a This variable
new variable, first click the “Data” button in the For all sprites For this sprite only will only be
blocks palette, and then select the “Make a Variable” used with the
Cloud variable (stored on server)
button. Untick the box by the “Speed” variable in the bat sprite
“Data” section so it doesn’t appear on the screen.
OK Cancel
Add the below script to the bat. In the main “forever”
7 loop, the bat moves to a random position on the left
of the stage, chooses a random speed, then moves
backward and forward across the stage until the bananas
hit it. When the bat is hit, it drops to the ground.

This keeps the bat

when clicked sprite upright

set rotation style left-right ▾ The bat starts off on the

left of the stage, at a
forever Start of the bat’s main loop random height

go to x: -300 y: pick random 1 to 100

point in direction 90 ▾ Sets the bat’s direction to right

Picks a random speed

set Speed ▾ to pick random 1 to 20

repeat until touching Bananas ▾ ?

This makes the bat keep
move Speed steps moving until it’s hit

Drag the “Speed” variable from the

if on edge, bounce “Data” section into this block

broadcast hitbybananas ▾ Create this “broadcast” block to tell

other sprites that the bat has been hit.
point in direction 180 ▾ This will be useful later in the project
Sets the direction of
repeat 40 the bat to down

move 10 steps Makes the bat

fall down and off
the stage

Don’t forget to save

your work
78 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

MONKEY MAYHEM
Create a new variable called “Time”. Make sure it’s
The finishing touches 8 available for all sprites in the game by selecting the
To make the game even more exciting, you “For all sprites” option. Check that the box next to
can add a timer, use a variable to keep score the variable in the blocks palette is ticked, so that
of how many bats the player hits, and add a players can see the time displayed on the stage.
game over screen that appears once the
player is out of time. Time

Click on the small picture of the

9 stage in the stage list, then select
the “Backdrops” tab above the
blocks palette. Right-click the
T Monkey mayhem
by abcd (unshared)

existing backdrop and duplicate

it. Add the words “GAME OVER”
to the new backdrop.
Use the text tool
to write on the
duplicate backdrop
GAME OVER
Your “game over” screen will
look something like this

Click the “Scripts” tab and when clicked

10 add this script to the stage
to set up the timer. When switch backdrop to brick wall1 ▾
the timer begins, it starts a This sets the time
count-down loop. When set Time ▾ to 30 limit to 30 seconds
the loop finishes, the
“GAME OVER” screen is repeat until Time = 0
shown and the game ends.
wait 1 secs Counts down until the
timer reaches zero
change Time ▾ by -1

switch backdrop to brick wall2 ▾ Switches to the “GAME

Ends the game OVER” backdrop
stop all ▾
 M O N K E Y M AY H E M 79

Click the bananas sprite in Put a check in the

11 the sprite list. Create a new box to show the
variable called “Score” and score on the stage
make it available for all sprites.
Move the score to the top right Score
of the stage by dragging it.

Add this short script to the bananas sprite. Add this script to the bananas sprite too. When the
12 It sets the score to 0 at the beginning 13 bananas hit the bat, it plays a sound, increases the
of the game. score by 10, and hides the bananas.

Makes the
when clicked bananas when I receive hitbybananas ▾
disappear
Add the “pop” sound
set Score ▾ to 0 hide
from the sound library
to the banana sprite
play sound pop ▾ (see pp.58–59)
This resets the score
change Score ▾ by 10

Each time the bat

is hit the player
Next add some music to the 2
scores 10 points
14 game. Click on the stage and
select the “Sounds” tab above the
blocks palette. Load the “eggs” REMEMBER
music from the sound library.
Achievements
eggs
00:15.2
Congratulations—you’ve built a
Add the “eggs” music
from the “Sounds” tab complete Scratch game. Here
are some of the things you have
achieved so far:
Add the script below to the stage. It plays the
15 “eggs” music on a loop, but will stop when the Made a sprite throw objects at
“stop all” block ends the game. another sprite.
Made a sprite fall off the stage
once hit.
The background
when clicked music is repeated Added a time limit to your game.
in an endless loop Added background music that plays
forever as long as the game continues.
play sound eggs ▾ until done Added a game over screen that
appears at the end of the game.
Don’t forget to save
your work
80 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

MONKEY MAYHEM
Time to play Make up a new To make the game last
Now the game is ready to play. Click the title for the game longer, try increasing
and type it in the time limit
green flag to start and see how many
times you can hit the bat with the
bananas before the time runs out. Untitled
by abcd (unshared)

Left cursor key Right cursor key

Time 30

Spacebar
Space
△ Controls
Steer the monkey left and right with To make the
the keyboard cursor keys. Tap the game harder,
spacebar to fire bananas at the bat. make the bat
move faster

EXPERT TIPS
Adding more sprites
To add more bats to aim at, right-click the bat in
the sprite list and select “duplicate”. A new bat
will appear with all the same scripts as the first
one. Try adding some other flying sprites:

1. Add a sprite from the sprite library. The flying

hippo (“Hippo1”) is great for this game.
2. Click on the bat in the
sprite list.
3. Click the bat’s script
and hold the mouse
button down.
4. Drag the bat’s script on
to the new sprite in the
sprite list.
5. The script will copy
across to the new sprite.
 M O N K E Y M AY H E M 81

Try out different Play the game three

backdrops and see times and see how high
how the game looks you can score

Click the red stop button

to end the game early

Score 0

You can edit the program to

give the player more points
for each successful hit

To make the game harder,

try changing the code to
make the bananas move
more slowly

Try changing the

monkey into a
different sprite

◁ Going bananas
There are countless ways to
change Monkey Mayhem. By
adjusting the speeds, scores,
sounds, and sprites, you can
create your own unique
version of the game.
82 S TA R T I N G F R O M S C R AT C H

Time to experiment SEE ALSO

What is 86–87
Python?

Now you’ve learned the basics of Scratch, you can
experiment with some of its more advanced features. The
Simple 102–103
commands

more you practice, the better your coding will become.

◁ Join a coding club

Things to try Is there a coding club in
Not sure what to do next with your school or local area?
Scratch? Here are a few ideas. They’re great places to
If you don’t feel ready to write meet other Scratch users
and share ideas.
a whole program on your own
yet, you can start with one
that has already been written
and change parts of it.

Scratch allows you to

look at the coding of all
projects on its website

△ Look at code ▷ Remix existing projects

Looking at other programs is a great Can you improve the projects on
way to learn. Go through projects the Scratch website? Scratch lets
shared on the Scratch website. What you add new features and then
can you learn from them? share your version.

Drag and drop

Backpack to copy a script
The backpack enables you to store useful or sprite into the
when clicked
backpack
scripts, sprites, sounds, and costumes and
forever
move them from project to project. It’s
found at the bottom of the Scratch screen. Backpack say hello!

move 10 steps

▷ Drag and drop

You can drag sprites and scripts into
A sprite in the
your backpack, then add them to
backpack Sprite 1
other projects.
 TIME TO EXPERIMENT 83
Help! Tips
It can be hard to write a program if you
don’t know about some of the blocks you
could use. Scratch has a help menu to turn degrees
make sure you understand every block.
Turn left

Block help
1 To find out more about a particular
block, click the “block help” button on the
when left arrow ▾ key pressed
cursor tools bar at the top of the screen.
The help
window explains turn 30 degrees
?
every block
This is the “block
help“ button
Ask a question 30°
2 The cursor will turn into a
The cursor
becomes a
question mark. Use this to click on question mark
the block you want to know about.

turn 15 degrees
?
Type in the number of degrees you want the
sprite to rotate.
Help window
3 The help window opens to
(If you type in a negative number, the sprite will
go in the opposite direction.)
tell you how the block works, with
tips on how it can be used.

Learn another language

You’re now on your way to mastering your first
programming language. Learning other languages will
enable you to write different types of programs. Why not
try Python next? What you’ve already learned about
Scratch will help you pick up Python quickly.

▷ Similar to Scratch
Python uses loops, variables,
and branches too. Use your
Scratch knowledge to start
learning Python!
 Playing
with Python
86 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

What is Python? SEE ALSO

Installing 88–91
Python

Python is a text-based programming language.
It takes a bit longer to learn than Scratch, but can
Simple 102–103
commands

be used to do much more. Harder 104–105 
commands

A useful language
Python is a versatile language that can be used to
make many different types of programs, from word
processing to web browsers. Here are a few great
reasons to learn Python.

Easy to learn and use Contains ready-to-use code

1 Python programs are written in a 2 Python contains libraries of
simple language. The code is quite easy to preprogrammed code that you can
read and write, compared to many other use in your programs. It makes it easier
programming languages. to write complex programs quickly.

Python contains
lots of programs
you can use and
build on

Useful for big organizations

3 Python is powerful. It can be used EXPERT TIPS
to write real-world programs. It is used by
Google, NASA, and Pixar, among others. Getting started
Before learning how to program in Python, it’s
useful to get familiar with how it works. The next
few pages will teach you how to:

Install Python: Python is free, but you’ll have to

install it yourself (see pp.88–91).
Use the interface: Make a simple program and save
it on the computer.
Experiment: Try some simple programs to see how
they work.
 W H AT I S P Y T H O N ? 87
Scratch and Python
Lots of elements that are used in Scratch are also
used in Python—they just look different. Here are
a few similarities between the two languages.

print(‘Hello World!’)
when clicked
Type the message
say Hello World! you want here

This block displays

the message in a
speech bubble

Hello World!
The message appears
on screen like this

Hello World!
△ Print in Scratch △ Print in Python
In Scratch, the “say” block is used to show In Python, a command called “print” displays
something on the screen. text on the screen.

Turns the pen on

pen down Repeats the blocks

from turtle import *
inside it 24 times to
repeat 24 draw a circle pendown() This starts a loop

move 10 steps
for n in range(24):
Moves the sprite
forward forward(10)
turn 15 degrees Turns the
right(15)
turtle clockwise
Turns the sprite
penup() 15 degrees

pen up Turns the

pen off

△ Turtle graphics in Scratch △ Turtle graphics in Python

The script above uses the “pen down” block There’s also a turtle in Python. The code above
to move the cat sprite and draw a circle. can be used to draw a circle.
88 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Installing Python
Before you can use the Python programming language,
you need to download and install it on your computer.
Python 3 is free, easy to install, and works on Windows
PCs, Macs, and Linux operating systems such as Ubuntu.

What is IDLE? EXPERT TIPS

When you install Python 3, you’ll also get a free program Saving code
called IDLE (Integrated DeveLopment Environment).
Designed for beginners, IDLE includes a basic text editor When saving work in Python, you
will need to use the “File > Save
that allows you to write and edit Python code. As...” menu command so you can
name your files. First create a
folder to keep all your files in. Give
WINDOWS the folder a clear name, like
“PythonCode”, and agree with the
△ Windows person who owns the computer
Before you download Python, check where to keep it.
what kind of operating system your
computer has. If you have Windows,
find out whether it’s the 32-bit or
64-bit version. Click the “Start”
button, right-click “Computer”, and
left-click “Properties”. Then choose
“System” if the option appears.

MAC UBUNTU
△ Mac △ Ubuntu
If you use an Apple Mac, find out which Ubuntu is a free operating system that
operating system it has before you install works just like Windows and Macs. To
Python. Click the apple icon in the top find out how to install Python on
left and choose “About This Mac”. Ubuntu, turn to page 91.
 I N S TA L L I N G PY T H O N 89
Python 3 on Windows
Before you install Python 3 on a Windows PC, make sure you get
permission from the computer’s owner. You may also need to
ask the owner to provide an admin password during installation.

Go to the Python website Download Python

1 Type the address below into your Internet 2 Click on the latest version of Python for
browser to open the Python website. Click on Windows, beginning with the number 3, which
“Download” to open the download page. will be near the top of the list.

http://www.python.org • Python 3.3.3 Windows x86 MSI Installer

• Python 3.3.3 Windows x86-64 MSI Installer

This is the URL (web Choose this if
address) for Python you have a 32-bit Don’t worry about Choose this if
version of Windows the exact number, you have a 64-bit
as long as it has a version of Windows
3 at the front
Install Run IDLE
3 The installer file will download automatically. 4 Now check that the program installed
When it finishes, double-click it to install Python. correctly. Open the Windows “Start” menu, click on
Choose “install for all users” and click “next” at each “All Programs”, “Python”, and then choose “IDLE”.
prompt, without changing the default settings.

Python 3.3

Make sure you IDLE (Python GUI)

select Python 3
Module Docs
The Windows installer Python (command line)
icon appears while
Python is installing Python Manuals

A Python window opens Uninstall Python

5 A window like the one below should open
up. You can now start coding – just type into the
window after the angle brackets (>>>).

IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

Untitled

Python 3.3.3 (v3.3.3:c3896275c0f6, Nov 18 2013, 21:19:30) [MSC v.1600

64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type “copyright”, “credits” or “license()” for more information.
>>> Begin typing code here
90 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Python 3 on a Mac
Before you install Python 3 on a Mac, make sure you get
permission from the computer’s owner. You may also need to ask
the owner to provide an admin password during installation.

Go to the Python link Download Python

1 Type the address below into your web 2 Check which operating system your Mac has
browser to open the Python website. Click on (see page 88) and click on the matching version of
“Download” in the navigation panel to go to Python 3. You’ll be prompted to save a .dmg file. This version is
the download page. Save it on your Mac desktop. for newer Macs

http://www.python.org • Python 3.3.3 Mac OS X 64-bit... (for Mac OS X 10.6 and later)

Don’t worry about the • Python 3.3.3 Mac OS X 32-bit... (for Mac OS X 10.5 and later)
exact number, as long as
it has a 3 at the front This version runs
on most Macs
Install Run IDLE
3 Double-click the .dmg file. A window 4 During installation, click “next” at each prompt to
will open with several files in it, including accept the default settings. After installation ends, open
the Python installer file “Python.mpkg”. the “Applications” folder on your Mac and open the “Python”
Double-click it to start the installation. folder (make sure you select Python 3, not Python 2).
Double-click “IDLE” to check the installation worked.

IDLE icon

Python installer file

Python.mpkg

A Python window opens

5 A window like the one below should
open. You can now start coding—just type
into the window after the angle brackets.

IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

Untitled

Python 3.3.3 (v3.3.3:c3896275c0f6, Nov 16 2013, 23:39:35)

[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)] on darwin
Type “copyright”, “credits” or “license()” for more information.
>>>
 I N S TA L L I N G PY T H O N 91
Python 3 on Ubuntu
If you use the Linux operating system Ubuntu, you can
download Python 3 without having to use a browser—just
follow the steps below. If you have a different version of
Linux, ask the computer’s owner to install Python 3 for you.

Go to Ubuntu Software Center Enter “Python” into the search bar

1 Find the Ubuntu Software 2 You will see a search box in the
Centre icon in the Dock or the Dash top right. Type “Python” in the box and
and double-click it. press enter.

Python

Look for version 3

Select IDLE and click “Install”
3 Look for “IDLE (using Python)”.
IDLE (using Python-3.3) (17)
Integrated Development Environment for Python (using Python-3.3)
Highlight the version beginning with
the number 3 and click “Install”.
More info Install

Select Dash Run IDLE

4 After installation finishes, check 5 Enter “IDLE” into the search
the program works. First, select the bar and double-click on the
Dash icon in the top right. blue-and-yellow “IDLE (using
Python 3)” icon.
Dash icon IDLE icon

A Python window opens

6 A window like the one below should
open. You can now start coding—just type
into the window after the angle brackets.

IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

Untitled

Python 3.2.3 (default, Sep 25 2013, 18:25:56)

[GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
Type “copyright”, “credits” or “license()” for more information.
>>>
92 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Introducing IDLE SEE ALSO

88–91 Installing
Python
IDLE helps you write and run programs in Python.
See how it works by creating this simple program
Which 106–107
window?

that writes a message on the screen.

Working in IDLE EXPERT TIPS

Follow these steps to make a Python Different windows
program using IDLE. It will teach you
how to enter, save, and run programs. Python uses two different windows—the “shell”
window and the “code” window (see pages
106–107). We’ve given them different colors
to tell them apart.
Start IDLE
1 Start up IDLE using the instructions for your Shell window
computer’s operating system (see pp.88–91). The
shell window opens. This window shows the
program output (any information the program Code window
produces) and any errors.

IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

Untitled

Python 3.3.3 (v3.3.3:c3896275c0f6, Nov 16 2013, 23:39:35)

[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)] on darwin
Type “copyright”, “credits” or “license()” for more information.
>>>
Messages from What appears here will
Python appear here depend on which operating
system you’re using

Open a new window

2 Click the “File” menu
IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

at the top of the shell Untitle New Window

window and select “New
Open This is the
Window”. This opens the
shell window
code window.
Open Module Click here to open
the code window
Recent Files

Class Browser

Path Browser
 INTRODUCING IDLE 93
Enter the code
3 In the new code window, type in print(‘Hello World!’)
this text. It’s an instruction to write the
words “Hello World!” Use single
quote marks

Save the code window

4 Click the “File” menu and select
IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

“Save As”. Enter the file name “HelloWorld” Untitle New Window
and click “Save”.
prin Open

Open Module

Recent Files

Class Browser
If you get an error message,
check your code carefully
Path Browser
to make sure you haven’t
made any mistakes.
Close

Save Click here to

save the file
Save As

Save Copy As

Run the program

5 In the code window, click the “Run”
IDLE File Edit Format Run Window Help

menu and select “Run Module”. This will HelloWorld Python Shell
run the program in the shell window.
print(‘Hello World!’) Check Module

Click here to Run Module

run the program

Output in the shell window

6 Look at the shell window. The “Hello
REMEMBER
World!” message should appear when the How IDLE works
program runs. You’ve now created your
first bit of code in Python! Always follow these three steps in IDLE: write the code, save it,
and then run it. Remember, code that hasn’t been saved won’t
>>> run. A warning will come up if you try.
Hello World!
>>> Enter code Save Run
The message will appear
without quote marks
94 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Errors SEE ALSO

Bugs and 148–149
debugging

Sometimes programs don’t work the first time, but
they can always be fixed. When code for a program
What next? 176–177 
isn’t entered correctly, Python will display an error
message telling you what has gone wrong.

Errors in the code window

When trying to run a program in the code window,
you might see a pop-up window appear with an error
message (such as “SyntaxError”) in it. These errors stop
the program from running and need to be fixed.

Syntax error Error highlighted

1 If a pop-up window appears with 2 Click “OK” in the pop-up window and
a “SyntaxError” message, it often means you’ll go back to your program. There will
there’s a spelling mistake or typing be a red highlight on or near the error.
error in the code. Check that line for mistakes carefully.

SyntaxError print(‘Hello World!)

There is a missing The error is

invalid syntax quote mark here highlighted

EXPERT TIPS

OK There is a Classic errors

typing error
in the code Some mistakes are particularly easy to make.
Keep an eye out for these common problems:
SyntaxError
Upper vs lower case: The case has to match exactly.
If you write “Print” instead of “print”, Python won’t
understand the instruction.
unexpected indent Single and double quotes: Don’t mix up single and
double quotes. All opening quotes need a matching
closing quote.
OK Minus and underscore: Don’t confuse the minus sign
(-) with the underscore sign (_).
Different brackets: Different-shaped brackets, such
There is incorrect as (), {} and [], are used for different things. Use the
spacing in the code,
correct ones, and check there’s a complete pair.
which is preventing the
program from running
 ERRORS 95
Errors in the shell window
Sometimes, an error message will appear in red Red text means there’s
something wrong!
text in the shell window. This will also stop the
program from working.
Name error
1 If the error message “NameError” appears, it means Python
can’t understand one of the words that has been used. If the error The line in the code (in the
is in code entered in the code window, right-click on the error code window) where the
message in the shell window and select “Go to file/line”. error was found

>>>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “C:\PythonCode\errors.py”, line 1, in <module>
pront(‘Hello World!’) Cut
NameError: name ‘pront’ is not defined Copy

The word Python Click here to highlight the line

Paste
doesn’t understand where the error appears in the
code window Go to file/line

Fix the error

2 The line with the error is highlighted pront(‘Hello World!’)
in the code window. The word “pront” has
been typed instead of “print”. You can then Change this
edit the code to fix the error. to read “print”

Spotting errors ERROR BUSTING

Use the tips on these two pages to find Check your code for the following points
the line in the code where the errors Have you copied exactly what you were asked to enter?
appear, then double-check that line. Go
through the checklist on the right to help Have you spelled everything correctly?
you find out what has gone wrong.
Are there two quote marks (‘) around the expression you
want to print?
Do you have extra spaces at the beginning of the line?
Spacing is very important in Python.
▷ When things Have you checked the lines above and below the
go wrong highlighted line? Sometimes that’s where the problem is.
There are some Have you asked someone else to check the code against the
methods you can book? They might spot something you have missed.
use to find errors
more easily. Here’s Are you using Python 3 not Python 2? Programs for Python
3 don’t always work in Python 2.
a handy checklist.
96 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

PROJECT 4
Ghost game SEE ALSO
Ghost game 98–99
decoded

This simple game highlights some of the things
to watch out for when writing programs in Python.
Program 100–101
flow

Once the code has been typed in, run the program to
play the game. Can you escape the haunted house?

Start IDLE, and use the

1 “File” menu to open a new # Ghost Game
window. Save the game as from random import randint
“ghost game.” Arrange the
windows so you can see print(‘Ghost Game’) Use single quotes
them both, then type this feeling_brave = True Only use capital letters
into the code window. where they are shown
score = 0
Make sure to add
These must be while feeling_brave: a colon here
underscores, not ghost_door = randint(1, 3)
minus signs
print(‘Three doors ahead...’)
This section needs to be print(‘A ghost behind one.’)
indented by four spaces.
If this doesn’t happen print(‘Which door do you open?’)
automatically, check that
there is a colon after door = input(‘1, 2, or 3?’)
“feeling_brave” door_num = int(door)
Use two equals
if door_num == ghost_door: signs here
This indent will start
at eight spaces and print(‘GHOST!’)
needs to be reduced
to just four spaces feeling_brave = False
else:
print(‘No ghost!’)
print(‘You enter the next room.’)
Delete all
indents here score = score + 1
print(‘Run away!’)
print(‘Game over! You scored’, score)

There should be no quotes

around “score” here
 GHOST GAME 97

Once the code has been carefully typed in, use the The game begins in the shell window. The ghost is
2 “Run” menu to select “Run Module.” You must save 3 hiding behind one of three doors. Which one will
the program first. you pick? Type 1, 2, or 3 then press “Enter.”

Run Ghost Game

Python Shell Three doors ahead...
Check Module A ghost behind one.
Run Module Which door do you open?
1, 2, or 3?
Choose “Run Module”
from the “Run” menu in
Type in your guess
the code window

The aim of the game is to pick a door with no ghost If you’re unlucky you’ll pick a door with a ghost
4 behind it. If this happens, you’ll move to the next 5 behind it, and the game ends. Run the program
room and keep playing the game. again to see if you can beat your last score.

Ghost Game Ghost Game

Three doors ahead... Three doors ahead...
A ghost behind one. A ghost behind one.
Which door do you open? Which door do you open?
1, 2, or 3?3 1, 2, or 3?2
The number you type
No ghost! in appears here GHOST! This is what appears if the
ghost is behind your door
Run away!
This is what you’ll
see if there is no Game over! You scored 0
ghost behind the
door you choose

The score shows

how many rooms
you survived

1 2 3
98 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Ghost game decoded SEE ALSO

 96–97 Ghost game

The ghost game displays some of the key features Program 100–101
flow

of Python. You can break down the code to see how
the program is structured and what the different
parts of it do.
# Ghost Game

Code structure from random import randint

print(‘Ghost Game’)
feeling_brave = True
1 Game setup
Python uses spaces at the start of lines score = 0
while feeling_brave:

to work out which instructions belong ghost_door = randint(1, 3)

print(‘Three doors ahead...’)
The main loop
together. These spaces are called “indents.” 2
print(‘A ghost behind one.’)
print(‘Which door do you open?’)

For example, the code after “while door = input(‘1, 2 or 3?’)

door_num = int(door)
◁ Code key
if door_num == ghost_door:
feeling_brave” is indented by four spaces print(‘GHOST!’)
This diagram shows the
feeling_brave = False

to show it’s all part of the main loop. else:

3
print(‘No ghost!’)
structure of the ghost
print(‘You enter the next room.’) game. The numbered
score = score + 1
Branching part print(‘Run away!’) parts are explained in
4
print(‘Game over! You scored’, score)
more detail below.
This is a “comment”. It’s not
shown when the game is run Game ending

Game setup
1 These instructions only # Ghost Game This sets up the “randint”
command, which generates
run once—at the beginning from random import randint random numbers
of the game. They set up
the title, variables, and the print(‘Ghost Game’)
The “print” command
“randint” command. feeling_brave = True displays text when
the game is run
score = 0
This resets the
score to 0

EXPERT TIPS
Type carefully
When using Python, enter the
code very carefully. If you leave
out a colon, quotation mark, or
parenthesis, the program won’t
work properly. You need to match
the use of capital letters and
spaces exactly too.
 GHOST GAME DECODED 99
The main loop
2 This loop tells the story while feeling_brave: This selects a
random number
and receives the player’s guess. ghost_door = randint(1, 3) between 1 and 3
It keeps on going as long as there
isn’t a ghost behind the door print(‘Three doors ahead...’)
that’s picked. When a ghost print(‘A ghost behind one.’) The “print”
appears, the “feeling_brave” command displays
variable changes to “False” and print(‘Which door do you open?’) the text onscreen
the loop stops repeating. door = input(‘1, 2 or 3?’)
This line asks for
door_num = int(door) the player’s answer
Branching part
3 The program takes a
if door_num == ghost_door:
This branch runs
different path depending on print(‘GHOST!’) if there’s a ghost
whether or not there was a behind the door
feeling_brave = False the player picks
ghost behind the door that was
picked. If there was a ghost, the else: If there’s no ghost, the
“feeling_brave” variable is set to print(‘No ghost!’) player sees this message
“False” but if not, the player’s
score increases by one. print(‘You enter the next room.’)
score = score + 1

The score increases by one

each time the player enters a
This shows a message room without meeting a ghost
telling the player to run
away from the ghost

Game ending
4 This runs just once, when print(‘Run away!’)
you meet the ghost and the print(‘Game over! You scored’, score)
loop ends. Python knows this
isn’t part of the loop because
The score is a variable—it will
it’s not indented.
change depending on how many
rooms the player gets through

REMEMBER
Achievements
Congratulations—you’ve created Run a program: You’ve learned how
your first Python game! You’ll learn to run a Python program.
more about these commands later Structured a program: You’ve used
in the book, but you’ve already indents to structure a program.
achieved a lot: Used variables: You’ve used variables
to store the score.
Entered a program: You’ve typed a
Displayed text: You’ve displayed
program into Python and saved it.
messages on the screen.
100 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Program flow SEE ALSO

30–31 Colored blocks

and scripts
Before learning more about Python, it’s important to
understand how programs work. The programming basics
Simple 102–103
commands

learned in Scratch can also be applied to Python. Harder 104–105 
commands

From input to output

A program takes input (information in), processes it
(or changes it), and then gives back the results (output).
It’s a bit like a chef taking ingredients, turning them
into cakes, and then giving you the cakes to eat.

Input Processing Output

Input command Variables Print command
Keyboard Math Screen
Mouse Loops Graphics
△ Program flow in Python
Branches In Python, the keyboard and
mouse are used to input
information, which is processed
Functions using elements such as loops,
branches, and variables. The
output is then displayed on
the screen.
 PROGRAM FLOW 101
Looking at the Ghost game through EXPERT TIPS
Scratch goggles One script at a time
Program flow works the same in most programming There’s an important difference
languages. Here are some examples of input, processing, between Scratch and Python.
and output in Python’s Ghost game—and what they In Scratch, lots of scripts can
might look like in Scratch. run at the same time. In Python,
however, the program is made
up of only one script.
Python and Scratch
are more similar
than they appear.

Input
1 In Python, the “input()” function takes
an input from the keyboard. It’s similar to the The question in
“ask and wait” block in Scratch. the Scratch block

door = input(‘1, 2 or 3?’) ask 1, 2 or 3? and wait

“ask and wait” Scratch block

The question
appears on screen

Processing
2 Variables are used to keep track of the score and This Scratch block
sets the value of the
the function “randint” picks a random door. Different variable “score” to 0
blocks are used to do these things in Scratch.

score = 0 set score ▾ to 0

“set score to 0” Scratch block

Sets the variable
“score” to 0

ghost_door = randint(1, 3) pick random 1 to 3

“pick random” Scratch block

Selects a random This Scratch block
whole number selects a random
between 1 and 3 number
Output
3 The “print()” function is used to Shows a speech bubble
output things in Python, while the “say” Displays “Ghost game” containing the words
block does the same thing in Scratch. on the screen “Ghost game”

print(‘Ghost game’) say Ghost game

“say” Scratch block

102 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Simple commands SEE ALSO

86–87 What is
Python?
At first glance, Python can look quite scary,
especially when compared to Scratch. However,
Harder 104–105
commands

the two languages aren’t actually as different as
they seem. Here is a guide to the similarities
between basic commands in Python and Scratch.
Command Python 3 Scratch 2.0

Run program “Run” menu or press “F5” (in code window)

Stop program Press “CTRL-C” (in shell window)

Write text say Hello!

to screen
print(‘Hello!’)

Set a variable
magic_number = 42 set magic_number ▾ to 42
to a number

Set a variable
word = ‘dragon’ set word ▾ to dragon
to a text string

Read text from ask age? and wait

age = input(‘age?’)
keyboard into
variable print(‘I am ’ + age) say join I am answer

cats = cats + 1
Add a number
or change cats ▾ by 1
to a variable
cats += 1

Add a + 2 a + 2

Subtract a - 2 a – 2

Multiply a * 2 a * 2

Divide a / 2 a / 2
 SIMPLE COMMANDS 103
Command Python 3 Scratch 2.0

forever
while True:
Forever loop jump
jump()

repeat 10
for i in range (10):
Loop 10 times jump
jump()

Is equal to? a == 2 a = 2

Is less than? a < 2 a < 2

Is more than? a > 2 a > 2

NOT not not

OR or or

AND and and

if a = 2 then
if a == 2:
If then say Hello!
print(‘Hello!’)

if a = 2 then
if a == 2:
say Hello!
print(‘Hello!’)
If then else else
else:
print(‘Goodbye!’) say Goodbye!
104 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Harder commands SEE ALSO

86–87 What is
Python?
Python can also be used to do some of the more
complicated things that are possible in Scratch: for
 102–103 Simple
commands
example, creating complex loops, playing with strings
and lists, and drawing pictures with turtle graphics.

Command Python 3 Scratch 2.0

repeat until roll = 6

Loops with while roll != 6:
conditions jump
jump()

from time import sleep

Wait wait 2 seconds
sleep(2)

Random from random import randint

set roll ▾ to pick random 1 to 6
numbers roll = randint(1, 6)

Define a def jump(): define jump

function or
subprogram print(‘Jump!’)
think Jump!

Call a function
or subprogram
jump() jump

Define a define greet who

function or def greet(who):
subprogram print(‘Hello ’ + who)
with input say join Hello who

Call a function
greet(‘chicken’) greet chicken
or subprogram
 HARDER COMMANDS 105
Command Python 3 Scratch 2.0

from turtle import * clear

clear() pen down
Turtle pendown()
move 100 steps
graphics forward(100)
turn 90 degrees
right(90)
penup() pen up

Join strings print(greeting + name) say join greeting name

Get one letter

of a string
name[0] letter 1 of name

Length of
a string
len(name) length of name

Create an
empty list
menu = list() Make a List

Add an item
menu.append(thing) add thing to menu ▾
to end of list

How many
len(menu) length of menu ▾
items on list?

Value of 5th say item 5 ▾ of menu ▾

item on list
menu[4]

Delete 2nd
del menu[1] delete 2 ▾ of menu ▾
item on list

if menu ▾ contains olives then

if ‘olives’ in menu:
Is item on list? say Oh no!
print(‘Oh no!’)
106 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Which window? SEE ALSO

 92–93 Introducing
IDLE
There are two different windows to choose from
in IDLE. The code window can be used to write
96–97 Ghost
game
and save programs, while the shell window runs
Python instructions right away.

The code window ▽ Running programs

So far in this book, the code window has been used to This process is used for
write programs. You enter the program, save it, run it, running Python programs.
Programs always have to be
and the output appears in the shell window. saved before running them.

Enter code Save Run module Output

Enter a program in the code window Output in the shell window

1 Enter this code in the code window, save 2 When the program runs, its output
it, and then click on “Run module” in the “Run” (the results of the program) is shown in
menu to run the program. the shell window.

a = 10 Give “a” the value 10 >>>

b = 4 Give “b” the value 4
14
print(a + b) 6
The “print” command
print(a - b) shows the answers to The answers to the sums
these sums appear in the shell window

The shell window

Python can also understand commands that are
typed in the shell window. They run as soon as they
are typed in, and the result is shown straight away.
The first two commands have
>>> a = 10 no output because they are just
assigning values to “a” and “b”
>>> b = 4
>>> a + b ◁ Code and output together
14 Output appears The shell window shows the code
immediately and the output together. It’s easier △ Test your ideas
>>> a - b to tell which answer belongs to The shell window gives you an immediate
6 which sum when the commands response, which makes it ideal for testing
are typed in the shell window. instructions and exploring what they can do.
 WHICH WINDOW? 107
Python playground EXPERT TIPS
The shell window can be used to try out all sorts of Colors in the code
Python commands, including drawing. The turtle is
used to draw on screen in the same way that the pen IDLE color-codes the text.
The colors give you some clues
is used in Scratch.
about what Python thinks each
Loads all the commands
piece of text is.
that control the turtle

◁ Enter the code ◁ Built-in functions

>>> from turtle import * Type these Commands in Python, such as
>>> forward(100) instructions in the “print”, are shown in purple.
shell window. They
>>> right(120) run after each one ◁ Strings in quotes
>>> forward(100) is typed. As the Green indicates strings. If the
turtle moves, it brackets are green too, there’s
Moves the turtle forward draws a line. a missing quote mark.

◁ Most symbols and names

Most code is shown in black.
◁ Turtle graphic
Can you work out how to ◁ Output
draw other shapes, such as Python’s output in the shell
a square or a pentagon? window is shown in blue.
To start over, type “clear()”
into the shell window. ◁ Keywords
Keywords, such as “if” and “else”,
are orange. Python won’t let you
Which window should you use? use keywords as variable names.
Should you use the code window or the
◁ Errors
shell window? It depends on the type of
Python uses red to alert you
program you’re writing, and whether it has to any error messages in the
to be repeated. shell window.

▷ Code window
The code window is ideal for
longer pieces of code
Code vs Shell ◁ Shell window
The shell window is perfect for
quick experiments, such as
because they can be saved checking how a command
and edited. It’s easier than works. It’s also a handy
retyping all the instructions calculator. It doesn’t save the
if you want to do the same instructions though, so if you’re
thing again or try something trying something you might
similar. It needs to be saved want to repeat, consider using
and run each time, though. the code window instead.
108 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Variables in Python SEE ALSO

Types of data 110–111 
Variables are used to remember pieces of information Math in 112–113
Python

in a program. They are like boxes where data can be
stored and labeled.
Strings in 114–115
Python

Input and 116–117
output

Creating a variable
When a number or string is put into a variable
Functions 130–131 
it’s called assigning a value to the variable.
You use an “=” sign to do this. Try this code in
the shell window. REMEMBER
Variable Value assigned Variables in Scratch
name to the variable
The command to assign a variable in Python does
>>> bones = 3 the same job as this Scratch block. However, in
Python you don’t have to click a button to create
△ Assign a number a variable. Python creates the variable as soon as
To assign a number, type in the variable name, you assign a value to it.
an equals sign, and then the number.
set bones ▾ to 3
Variable String assigned
name to the variable
Scratch block for giving
a value to a variable
>>> dogs_name = ‘Bruno’

△ Assign a string
To assign a string, type in the variable name, an
equals sign, and then the string in quote marks.

Printing a variable
The “print” command is used to show something
on the screen. It has nothing to do with the printer.
You can use it to show the value of a variable.

>>> print(bones) >>> print(dogs_name)

No quote
3 Variable name Bruno marks here

△ Number output △ String output

The variable “bones” contains the The variable “dogs_name” contains a string, so the
number 3, so that’s what the shell string is printed. No quote marks are shown when
window prints. you print a string.
 VA R I A B L E S I N PYT H O N 109
Changing the contents >>> gifts = 2
of a variable >>> print(gifts) Changes the value
To change the value of a variable, 2 of the variable
simply assign a new value to it.
>>> gifts = 3
Here, the variable “gifts” has the
value 2. It changes to 3 when it’s >>> print(gifts)
assigned a new value. 3

Using variables EXPERT TIPS

The value of one variable can be assigned to another Naming variables
one using the “=” sign. For example, if the variable
“rabbits” contains the number of rabbits, we can use There are some rules you have to
it to assign the same value to the variable “hats”, so that follow when naming your variables:
each rabbit has a hat. All letters and numbers can be used.
You can’t start with a number.
Assign the variables
1 This code assigns the number 5 to
Symbols such as -, /, #, or @ can’t
be used.
the variable “rabbits”. It then assigns the
same value to the variable “hats”. Spaces can’t be used.
An underscore ( _ ) can be used
Value assigned instead of a space.
Variable to the variable
name Uppercase and lowercase letters are
different. Python treats “Dogs” and
>>> rabbits = 5 “dogs” as two different variables.
Don’t use words Python uses as a
>>> hats = rabbits command, such as “print”.
“hats” now has the
same value as “rabbits”

Print the values Change the value of “rabbits”

2 To print two variables, put them both in
3 If you change the value of “rabbits”, it doesn’t
brackets after the “print” command, and put a affect the value of “hats”. The “hats” variable only
comma between them. Both “hats” and changes when you assign it a new value.
“rabbits” contain the value 5.
Give “rabbits”
>>> rabbits = 10 a new value
>>> print(rabbits, hats)
>>> print(rabbits, hats)
5 5 Leave a space Value for “hats”
after the comma 10 5 remains the same
110 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Types of data SEE ALSO

Maths in 112–113
Python

There are several different types of data in Python.
Most of the time, Python will work out what type
Strings in 114–115
Python

is being used, but sometimes you’ll need to Making 118–119 
decisions
change data from one type to another.
Lists 128–129 
Numbers
Python has two data types for numbers. “Integers” are whole numbers,
(numbers without a decimal point). “Floats” are numbers with a
decimal point. An integer can be used to count things such as sheep,
while a float can be used to measure things such as weight.

>>> sheep = 1 >>> sheep = 1.5

An integer 1.5
>>> print(sheep) is a whole >>> print(sheep) is a float
number
1 1.5
△ Integers △ Floats
An integer is a number without A float is a number with a decimal
a decimal point, such as the 1 point, such as 1.5. They aren’t normally
in the variable “sheep”. used to count whole objects.

Strings
Just like in Scratch, a piece of text in Python is called
a “string”. Strings can include letters, numbers, spaces, Always remember that
and symbols such as full stops and commas. They are strings need quote
marks at the start
usually put inside single quote marks. and the end.

The string
in quotes

▷ Using a string >>> a = ‘Coding is fun!’

To assign a string to
a variable, put the >>> print(a) The value of
text inside single the variable “a”
Coding is fun! printed out
quote marks.
 T Y P E S O F D ATA 111
Booleans EXPERT TIPS
In Python, a Boolean always has a value Spotting data types
that is either “True” or “False”. In both cases,
the word begins with a capital letter. In Python, there are many data types. To find out
what data type something is, you can use the
“type” command.
No quote
marks “type”
command
▷ True >>> a = True
When the value >>> type(24)
“True” is put into >>> print(a)
<class ‘int’> 24 is an
a variable, it will be True integer (“int”)
a Boolean variable. >>> type(24.3)
Boolean value <class ‘float’>
printed 24.3 is a float
>>> type(‘24’) (“float”)
▷ False
When the value <class ‘str’>
>>> a = False
“False” is put into
>>> print(a) ‘24’ is a string (“str”)
a variable, it will because it is in
be a Boolean Boolean value
False printed
quote marks
variable too.

Converting data types

Variables can contain any type of data. Problems
occur if you try to mix types together. Data types
sometimes have to be converted; otherwise, an error
message will appear.
String in quote marks
Variable name shown on screen
▷ Mixed type
The “input” command >>> apple = input(‘Enter number of apples ’)
always gives a string, Enter number of apples 2
even if a number is Tries to add the number 1
entered. In this example, >>> print(apple + 1) to the variable “apple”
since “apple” actually TypeError
contains a string, an error
message is displayed. The program gives an error message because Python
doesn’t know how to add a number to a string

▷ Converting data types

To convert the string into >>> print(int(apple) + 1)
a number, the “int()” 3
command is used to turn
it into an integer. The program now works The variable turns from a string into an
and shows the result integer, so a number can be added to it
112 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Math in Python SEE ALSO

 52–53 Math
Python can be used to solve all sorts of  108–109 Variables
in Python
mathematical problems, including addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Variables can also be used in sums.

Simple calculations
In Python, simple calculations can be made by typing them
You can’t divide by zero,
into the shell window. The “print()” function is not needed so you’ll always get an error
for this—Python gives the answer straight away. Try these if you try to do so.
examples in the shell window:

Use the shell window

to get instant results
>>> 12 + 4 >>> 12 - 4
16 8
The answer
△ Addition appears when △ Subtraction
you press “Enter”
Use the “+“ symbol to add Use the “-” symbol to subtract the
numbers together. second number from the first one.

Computers use the “*” symbol,

not “x”, for multiplication

Division in Python gives an

>>> 12 * 4 >>> 12 / 4 answer as a float (a number
with a decimal point)
48 3.0

△ Multiplication △ Division
Use the “*” symbol to multiply two Use the “/” symbol to divide the
numbers together. first number by the second one.

First it works out that First it works out

Using brackets 6 + 5 = 11, then 11 that 5 * 3 = 15, then
Brackets can be used to instruct is multiplied by 3 15 is added to 6

Python which part of a sum to

do first. Python will always work >>> (6 + 5) * 3 >>> 6 + (5 * 3)
out the value of the sum in the 33 21 Different answer
bracket, before solving the rest
△ Addition first △ Multiplication first
of the problem. In this sum, brackets are Brackets here are used to do the
used to instruct Python to multiplication first, in order to end
do the addition first. up with the correct answer.
 M AT H I N P Y T H O N 113
Do a simple addition
Putting answers in variables 1 This program adds together the
If variables are assigned number values, you variables “ants” and “spiders”, and puts
can use them within sums. When a sum is the answer into the variable “bugs”.
assigned to a variable, the answer goes into
the variable, but not the sum. >>> ants = 22
>>> spiders = 35
>>> bugs = ants + spiders
>>> print(bugs)
Adds the values of the
57 two variables together

Prints the value in “bugs”

Change the value of a variable Skipping the assignment

2 Change the value of the “ants” or “spiders” 3 If the sum is not assigned to the variable
variable. Add the variables together again and put “bugs”, even if the value of “ants” and “spiders”
the answer in the variable “bugs”. changes, the value of “bugs” won’t.

Change the value

>>> ants = 22 in “spiders”
>>> ants = 11 Prints the
>>> spiders = 18 >>> spiders = 17 value in “bugs”

>>> bugs = ants + spiders >>> print(bugs)

>>> print(bugs) Add the variables 40
together again
40 The answer changes The answer hasn’t changed
(it’s still 18 + 22)

Random numbers REMEMBER

To pick a random number, you first need to load the Random block
“randint” function into Python. To do this, use the “import”
command. The “randint()” function is already programmed The “randint()” function works like
the “pick random” block in Scratch.
with code to pick a random integer (whole number). In Scratch, the lowest and highest
possible numbers are typed into
the windows in the block. In
Adds the “randint()”
function
Python, the numbers are put in
brackets, separated by a comma.
>>> from random import randint
pick random 1 to 6
>>> randint(1, 6) Picks a random number
between 1 and 6
3 3 has been picked at random △ Whole numbers
Both the Python “randint()” function
△ Roll the dice and the Scratch block pick a random
The “randint()” function picks a random number between whole number—the result is never
the two numbers in the brackets. In this program, in decimals.
“randint(1, 6)” picks a value between 1 and 6.
114 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Strings in Python SEE ALSO

54–55 Strings
and lists
Python is excellent for using words and sentences
within programs. Different strings (sequences of
 110–111 Types
of data
characters) can be joined together, or individual
parts of them can be selected and pulled out.

Creating a string
A string might include letters, numbers, symbols,
or spaces. These are all called characters. Strings
can be placed in variables. The quotation marks
indicate the variable
contains a string
▷ Strings in variables
Variables can store strings. >>> a = ‘Run! ’
Type these two strings into
the variables “a” and “b”. >>> b = ‘Aliens are coming.’

Adding strings
Adding two numbers together creates a new number.
EXPERT TIPS
In the same way, when two strings are added together,
one string simply joins on to the other one. Length of a string
The “len()” function is used to find
The variables “a” and “b”
out the length of a string. Python
>>> c = a + b counts all of the characters,
combine to become
>>> print(c) variable “c” including spaces, to give the total
number of characters in a string.
Run! Aliens are coming.
Calculates the
△ Adding strings together length of the string
The “+” symbol joins one string to another. in variable “a” (“Run! ”)
and the answer becomes the variable “c”. A new string is added
to variable “c” >>> len(a)

>>> c = b + ‘ Watch out! ’ + a 4

>>> print(c) >>> len(b)

Aliens are coming. Watch out! Run! 18

The string in variable “b”

△ Adding another string in between The new string (“Aliens are coming.”) is
A new string can also be added between appears in the middle 18 characters long
two strings. Try the example above. of the message
 STRINGS IN PYTHON 115
Numbering the characters
Each character in a string is allocated a number
according to its position. This position number
can be used to look at individual letters or
symbols, or to pull them out of a string.

Count begins from zero Counting the characters

1 When counting the positions, Python 2 The position number is called an
starts at 0. The second character is in position “index”. It can be used to pull out a
1, the third in position 2, and so on. particular letter from a string.

>>> a = ‘FLAMINGO’ The sixth letter, >>> a[3]

“N”, is in position 5 Square brackets go
‘M’ around the index

F L A M I N G O The character in position 3

from the variable “a”

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The last character,

“O”, is in position 7

The first character,

“F”, is in position 0

“Slicing” From the start or the end

3 Two indexes can be used to pull out 4 If you leave off the start or end
a part of the string or “slice” it. The letter in index, Python will automatically use the
the last position isn’t included. first or the last character of the string.

>>> a[1:7] Colon defines the >>> a[:3]

‘LAMING’ range of characters ‘FLA’
>>> a[3:]
A slice from index 1 to Starts at Ends at index 7
index 6 of variable “a” index 0 ‘MINGO’

Apostrophes >>> print(‘It\’s a cloudy day.’)

Strings can go in single or double It’s a cloudy day.
quotation marks. However, the string
should start and end with the same type △ Escaping the apostrophe
of quotation mark. This book uses single So Python doesn’t read an
apostrophe as the end of the
quotes. But what happens if you want to The apostrophe
is included in string, type a “\” before it.
use an apostrophe in your string? the string This is called “escaping” it.
116 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Input and output SEE ALSO

 100–101 Program
flow
Programs interact with users through input and output.
Information can be input into a program using a keyboard.
 110–111 Types
of data
Output is shown as information printed on the screen. Loops 122–123 
in Python

Input The “input()” function allows

The “input()” function is used to accept input from the users to interact with a program
using their keyboard
keyboard into a program. It waits until the user finishes
typing and presses the “return” or “Enter” key.

Adding a space
Using input Output in the shell window
1 A program can prompt the
after the colon
makes the output 2 When the program is run, the message
look tidier
user what to type. The message is “Enter your name: ” and its response appear in
put inside the brackets of “input()”. the shell window.

name = input (‘Enter your name: ’) Enter your name: Jina

print(‘Hello’, name) Hello Jina
What the program outputs depends Program outputs User types in
on what name the user types message their name

Output
The “print()” function is used to display characters
in the shell window. It can be used to show
a combination of text and variables.
Output is displayed
on the screen

Create some variables Using the “print()” function

1 Set up three variables for this simple 2 You can put several items inside the brackets
experiment. Two are strings and one is an of the “print()” function. You can combine variables of
integer (whole number). different types, and even combine strings and variables.

>>> a = ‘Dave’ >>> print(a, b, c)

Quote marks
>>> b = ‘is’ show these Dave is 12
are strings
>>> c = 12 >>> print(‘Goodbye’, a)
Goodbye Dave

No quote marks as Comma separates

this is an integer the different items
 INPUT AND OUTPUT 117
Two ways to separate strings
So far, the output has been printed on one The separator

line with a space between the items. Here

are two other ways of separating strings. >>> print(a, b, c, sep=‘\n’)
Dave
Each variable starts
>>> print(a, b, c, sep=‘-’) is on a new line

Dave-is-12 12
△ Hyphenate the outputs The character △ Outputs on new lines
A hyphen can be put between the variables between the The space or character between the outputs
outputs
when they’re printed. Other characters, is called a “separator” (“sep”). Using “\n” prints
such as “+” or “*”, can be used too. each output on a new line.

Three ways to end output EXPERT TIPS

There are several different ways you Options at the end
can signal the end of the output of
a “print” function. The “end” and “sep” labels tell Python that the
next item in the program isn’t just another
string. Remember to use them; otherwise, the
>>> print(a, ‘.’) Period added program will not work correctly.
Dave . as a string

Period added
>>> print(a, end=‘.’) as an “end”
end sep
character
Dave.
△ Add a period to the output
A period can be added as another string to be
printed, but it will print with a space before it.
To avoid this, use “end=‘.’” instead.

Space >>> print(a, end=‘\n\n\n\n’)

Loop to print as “end” Dave
three times character
Each “\n” starts
a new line
Blank space
>>> for n in range(3): before the
print(‘Hurray!’ end=‘ ’) prompt

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! >>>

△ Output on one line △ Blank lines at the end
Usually, each new “print” command starts Output is Using “\n” starts each output from a new
on a new line. To get the output all on one all printed line. Several of them can be used together
line use a space as the “end” character. on one line to add blank lines at the end of a program.
118 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Making decisions SEE ALSO

 62–63 True or
false?
Programs make decisions about what to do
by comparing variables, numbers, and strings
 108–109 Variables
in Python
using Boolean expressions. These give an
answer of either “True” or “False”.

Logical operators
Logical operators are used to compare variables against
numbers or strings, or even against other variables.
The resulting answer is either “True” or “False”.

“Equals”
== operator

“Not equal
!= to” operator >>> toys = 10 This checks whether
“toys” is equal to 1
“Less than”
>>> toys == 1

< operator False This checks whether

“toys” is more than 1
>>> toys > 1
“Greater than”
True This checks whether
> operator
>>> toys < 1
“toys” is less than 1

“Less than or This checks if “toys”

equal to” operator
False
<= >>> toys != 1
is not equal to 1

This checks if “toys” is less

“Greater than or True than or equal to 10
>= equal to” operator
>>> toys <= 10
The “not” logical operator
True reverses the answer (in this
△ Types of comparison operators example, from “False” to “True”)
There are six comparison operators. Python >>> not toys == 1
The “or” logical operator
uses two equals signs to compare if two True checks if “toys” is 9 or 10
things are the same. (A single equals sign
is used to assign a value to a variable.) >>> toys == 9 or toys == 10
True
▷ Use the shell to check >>> toys == 9 and toys == 10
Logical operators also work in the False The “and” logical operator is
shell window. Use this example to used to check if “toys” is both 9
and 10. This can never be true,
try out several logical operators,
so the answer is “False”
including “not”, “or”, and “and”.
 MAKING DECISIONS 119
Check for the birthday
Is it Ella’s birthday? 1 Create variables for a day and a month.
Ella’s birthday is July 28th. This Use the “and” logical operator to check
program takes a day and a month whether it is July 28th.
and uses logical operators to check The “and” operator
whether it’s Ella’s birthday. >>> day = 28 checks to see if both
>>> month = 7 conditions are true

>>> day == 28 and month == 7

Remember to use
True two equals signs
It’s Ella’s birthday!

Not the birthday detector Birthday or New Year’s Day?

2 You can reverse the answer using the “not” 3 Use the “or” logical operator to check whether
logical operator. You will get the answer “True” on it’s Ella’s birthday or New Year’s Day. Use brackets to
every day, except for Ella’s birthday. combine the correct days and months.

>>> day = 28 >>> day = 28 Checks for the

This character 28th of July
>>> month = 7 is used to make
>>> month = 7
>>> not (day == 28 and \ code go over >>> (day == 28 and month == 7) \
two lines
month == 7) or (day == 1 and month == 1)
It’s Ella’s birthday, so the The answer will be “True” if it’s
False answer is “False” True Ella’s birthday or New Year’s Day

Strings EXPERT TIPS

Two strings can be compared using the Operator for strings
“==” operator or the “!=” operator. Strings
have to match exactly to get a “True” output. The “in” operator can be used to see
whether one string is inside another
string. Use it to check if a string
>>> dog = ‘Woof woof’ The strings match
contains a particular letter or a
exactly, so the
>>> dog == ‘Woof woof’ answer is “True” group of letters.
True The strings don’t match
because there isn’t a This checks whether
>>> dog == ‘woof woof’ “a” is in “abc”
capital “W”
False
The strings don’t
>>> dog == ‘Woof woof ’ match because there’s >>> ‘a’ in ‘abc’
extra space before True
False the quotation mark
>>> ‘d’ in ‘abc’
△ Exactly the same
“d” is not in “abc”, so
Strings must match for them to be equal. That False the answer is “False”
means they must use capital letters, spaces,
and symbols in exactly the same way.
120 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Branching SEE ALSO

64–65 Decisions
and branches
Boolean expressions can be used to determine which
route a program should follow, depending on whether
118–119 Making
decisions
the answer to the expression is “True” or “False”. This is
known as “branching”.

Do or do not
The “if” command means that if a condition is “True”, then the program runs
a block of commands. If the condition isn’t “True”, the block is skipped. The
block after the “if” command is always indented by four spaces.
Prompts users
what to type in
“if” condition
1 This code asks the user ans = input(‘Is it your birthday? (y/n)’)
if it’s their birthday. It checks if ans == ‘y’: This part of the
whether the answer is “y”. If so, program only runs
a birthday message is printed. print(‘Happy Birthday!’) if the user types “y”

Indented by four spaces

Type in “y”
Output if condition is “True”
2 Run the program and enter “y”. Is it your birthday? (y/n)y
The message is printed. It doesn’t Happy Birthday! The message appears
appear if anything else is entered.

Do this or that
The “if” command can be combined with an
“else” command. This combination means that
if something is “True”, one thing happens, and if
not, something else happens.

“if-else” condition
1 If “y” is entered, the program ans = input(‘Is it New Year? (y/n)’)
prints a special message for New if ans == ‘y’: Remember the colon This message only
Year. It shows a different message appears if the
if anything else is entered. print(‘Happy New Year!’) user enters “y”
print(‘Time for Fireworks.’)
else: Only runs if user
does not enter “y”
Remember to put print(‘Not yet!’)
a colon here too
 BRANCHING 121
Output if condition is “True” “else” condition output
2 Run the program and type in “y”. The program 3 Type in “n”, or any other character,
shows your New Year message. It doesn’t show the and the New Year message isn’t shown.
other message. Instead, the “Not yet!” message appears. Type in “n”

Is it New Year? (y/n)y Is it New Year? (y/n)n

Happy New Year! Not yet!
Type in “y”
Time for Fireworks. A different
message appears

Do one of these things

The “elif“ command is short for “else-if”. It means that
if something is “True”, do one thing; otherwise, check if
something else is “True” and do something else if it is.
The following calculator program uses the “elif“ command.

“if-elif-else” condition Output for the condition that’s “True”

1 This program checks what is typed 2 Test the program. Enter two numbers and
in. If it’s “add”, “sub”, “mul”, or “div”, the type in “sub”. The answer will be the first number
result of the sum is shown. minus the second number.
Remember to
Asks the user to add quote marks
input a number and brackets a = 7 Enter two numbers Type in “sub”
to subtract
b = 5
5 from 7
a = int(input(‘a = ’)) add/sub/mul/div:sub
b = int(input(‘b = ’)) Answer = 2
op = input(‘add/sub/mul/div:’)
Type “add” to Answer is calculated
if op == ‘add’: by subtracting variable
add the variables
c = a + b together “a” from variable “b”

elif op == ‘sub’:
c = a - b “else” condition output
elif op == ‘mul’: Type “div” to
3 The “else” condition runs if something other than
divide the “add”, “sub”, “mul”, or “div” is typed in, and an error message
c = a * b variables is displayed.
elif op == ‘div’:
c = a / b Shows an error message a = 7
in “c” if something else Type something
else: is typed in b = 5 different here

c = ‘Error’ Shows the add/sub/mul/div:try

Error message
answer or
print(‘Answer = ’,c) error message Answer = Error displays
122 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Loops in Python SEE ALSO

48–49 Pens
and turtles
Programs that contain repeating lines of code can be
time-consuming to type in and difficult to understand.
While loops 124–125 
A clearer way of writing them is by using a loop command.
Escaping 126–127
loops

The simplest loops are ones that repeat a certain number
of times, such as “for” loops.

Repeating things
A “for” loop repeats the code without having
to type it in again. It can be used to repeat
something a certain number of times, for
example, if you want to print the names of
a class of 30 students.

Program the turtle

1 A “for” loop can also be used to shorten the from turtle import *
code. This program allows the user to control a turtle forward(100) Loads all the
that draws a line as it moves around the screen. The commands
user can draw shapes on the screen, such as a triangle, right(120) that control
by directing the turtle’s movements. the turtle
forward(100)
right(120) This command moves
the turtle forward
forward(100)
This makes the
turtle turn 120 right(120)
degrees to the right

The turtle draws a triangle Use a “for” loop

2 The program tells the turtle how to draw a 3 The program above gives the turtle the same two
triangle by giving it the length of the three sides and commands, “forward(100)” and “right(120)”, three times –
the angles between them. The turtle will appear in once for each side of the triangle. An alternative to this
a separate window when you run the program. is to use these two commands inside a “for” loop. Try
drawing a triangle simply using the code shown below.

for i in range(3):
forward(100) The “for” loop tells the
The turtle program to repeat the
in Python right(120) instructions three times

The program The block of instructions

makes the turtle in a loop is indented by
draw a triangle four spaces
 LOOPS IN PYTHON 123
The loop variable The loop repeats ten times
Loop variables
A loop variable counts the number of times for i in range(10):
a loop has repeated itself. It starts at the first
print(i, end=‘ ’)
value in the range (0) and stops one before
the last value. Python stops >>> 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
counting one before
the last value
△ Simple loop variable
Here, the loop’s range doesn’t state what the starting
value should be. So Python starts counting from 0, the
This tells the same way as it does with strings.
program to
count in twos This tells the program
to count backward

for i in range(2, 11, 2): for i in range(10, 0, -1):

print(i, end=‘ ’) print(i, end=‘ ’)

The output
>>> 2 4 6 8 10 appears in twos >>> 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

△ Counting in twos △ Counting backward

This loop has a third value in its range, which tells the This time the program counts backward from 10, like in
loop to count in twos. It stops at 10, which is one loop a rocket launch. The loop variable starts at 10 and takes
before the loop variable gets to 11. steps of -1 until it reaches 1.

Nested Loops >>> The value of “a”

The value
Loops inside a loop are called “nested loops”. of “b” 1 x 1 = 1
First time around
In nested loops, the outer loop only repeats
2 x 1 = 2 the outer loop (the
after the inner loop has gone round its inner loop repeats
required number of times. 3 x 1 = 3 three times)

To make the loops repeat “n” number of times, Outer 1 x 2 = 2 Second time around
the last number in the range must be “n + 1” loop the outer loop
2 x 2 = 4
n = 3 3 x 2 = 6
for a in range(1, n + 1): 1 x 3 = 3 Third time around
for b in range(1, n + 1): 2 x 3 = 6 the outer loop

print(b, ‘x’, a, ‘=’, b * a) 3 x 3 = 9

△ Loops inside a loop Inner △ What happens
In this example, each time the outer loop The nested loops print the first three lines
loop goes around once, the inner loop This sum will be of the 1, 2, and 3 times tables. The value of
goes around three times. So in total, the printed nine times “a” only changes when the outer loop
outer loop is executed three times and repeats. The value of “b” counts from 1
the inner loop is executed nine times. to 3 for each value of “a”.
124 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

While loops SEE ALSO

118–119 Making
decisions
“For” loops are useful when you know how many times a
task needs to be repeated. But sometimes you’ll need a
 122–123 Loops
in Python
loop to keep repeating until something changes. A “while” Escaping 126–127 
loops
loop keeps on going around as many times as it needs to.

While loops No
▷ How it works Monster friendly?
A while loop keeps repeating as long as a certain A while loop
condition is true. This condition is called the checks if the Yes
“loop condition” and is either true or false. condition is true.
If it is, it goes
Create a while loop around the loop Stay very still
1 Set the starting value of the “answer” variable in again. If it’s not,
the loop condition. The loop condition has to be true it skips the loop.
to start with or the program will never run the loop.
The code Run away!
The “answer” variable is set to “y”
inside the answer = ‘y’
loop must The while loop only runs
be indented while answer == ‘y’:
if the condition is true
four spaces
print(‘Stay very still’)
answer = input(‘Is the monster friendly? (y/n)’)
If the condition is false, unindented code after
print(‘Run away!’) the loop runs and a different message appears

What the program looks like

2 The value entered is stored in the variable “answer”.
REMEMBER
The loop condition is “answer == ‘y’”. If you type “y”, “repeat until” block
the loop keeps going. If you type “n”, the loop stops.
Python’s “while” loop is similar to
the “repeat until” block in Scratch.
>>> Both keep on repeating until
Stay very still something different happens in
the program.
Is the monster friendly? (y/n)y
Answer is “y”, so the
Stay very still loop keeps running
repeat until
Is the monster friendly? (y/n)y
Stay very still
Is the monster friendly? (y/n)n
Answer is “n”, so the loop ends Repeats blocks inside it
Run away! and a new message appears until condition is true
 WHILE LOOPS 125
Forever loops
Some loops run forever. If you set the condition in a “while”
loop to be “True”, it can never be false and the loop will △ Going loopy
never end. This can either be useful or very annoying. A loop with the
condition “True” is
Create a forever loop called an “infinite”
1 The loop condition here is set to “True”. Nothing
The typed word
loop. If something is
infinite it has no end.
that happens inside the loop will make “True” equal is stored in the
anything but “True”, so the loop runs forever. variable “answer”

The loop is always “True”

while True: so will never end
answer = input(‘Type a word and press enter: ’)
print(‘Please do not type \’’ + answer + ‘\’ again.’)

What the program looks like

2 On the opposite page the monster program’s loop condition
checked to see what the user’s answer was. If the answer isn’t “y”,
the loop will stop. The loop shown above doesn’t check the
answer, so the user can’t make it stop.
No matter what is typed,
>>> this loop just keeps on going
Type a word and press enter: tree
Please do not type ‘tree’ again REMEMBER

Type a word and press enter: hippo “forever” block

Please do not type ‘hippo’ again Remember the “forever” block in
Type a word and press enter: water Scratch? It repeats the code inside
it until the red stop button is
Please do not type ‘water’: again clicked. A “while True” loop does
Type a word and press enter exactly the same thing. It can be
used to make a program keep
doing something, such as asking
questions or printing a number, as
EXPERT TIPS long as the program is running.
Stop the loop
If you get stuck in an infinite loop, you can forever
stop it from IDLE. Click in the Python shell
window, then hold down the “CTRL” key and
press the “C” key. This asks IDLE to stop the
Ctrl-C
program. You might have to press “CTRL-C”
a few times. This is similar to clicking the red The “forever” block keeps
stop button in Scratch. the sprite moving endlessly
126 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Escaping loops SEE ALSO

 122–123 Loops
in Python
Programs can get stuck in a loop, but there are ways
to escape. The word “break” leaves a loop (even a
 124–125 While
loops
“forever” loop), and the word “continue” skips back
to the start of the next loop.

Inserting breaks table = 7 The variable “i” will

count from 1 to 12
Putting a break into a loop makes for i in range(1, 13):
the program jump out of the
print(‘What\’s’, i, ‘x’, table, ‘?’)
loop at once—even if the loop
condition is true. Any commands guess = input()
“i” is the loop variable
inside the loop that come after ans = i * table
the break are ignored. if int(guess) == ans: The backslash (“\”) tells
Python the next quote
print(‘Correct!’) mark is an apostrophe,
Write a simple program
1 This program tests the user on the
else: not the end of the string

7 multiplication table. The program print(‘No, it\’s’, ans)

continues looping until all 12 questions are print(‘Finished’)
answered. Write this program in the code
window because it will be edited later.

Insert a “break”
2 A “break” can be added so the table = 7
user can escape the loop. The program for i in range(1,13):
executes a break if the user types “stop”.
print(‘What\’s’, i, ‘x’, table, ‘?’)
guess = input()
If “guess” equals “stop”, the if guess == ‘stop’:
program skips the rest of the
loop and prints “Finished”
break
ans = i * table
The “ans” variable
if int(guess) == ans: holds the correct
print(‘Correct!’) answer to the
question
else:
print(‘No, it\’s’, ans)
print(‘Finished’)
 ESCAPING LOOPS 127
How it works
>>> 3 If the user decides not to carry on
What’s 1 x 7 ? after the third question and types “stop”,
the break command is executed and the
1 The first time around the program leaves the loop.
loop “i” is equal to 1
No, it’s 7
What’s 2 x 7 ?
14 The value of “i” changes to
2 next time around the loop
Correct!
What’s 3 x 7 ?
stop This executes the break
command and the
Finished program exits the loop

Skipping
The “continue” keyword can be used to skip a question without
leaving the loop. It tells the program to ignore the rest of the code
inside the loop and skip straight to the start of the next loop.
Insert a continue
table = 7 4 Add an “if” statement inside the loop
for i in range(1,13): to see if the user answered “skip”. If so,
the program will print “Skipping” and
print(‘What\’s’, i, ‘x’, table, ‘?’) execute a “continue” to skip to the next
guess = input() go around the loop.
Asks the question
if guess == ‘stop’: “What’s 1 x 7?” first
time around the loop What happens
break 5 If the user doesn’t want to answer
if guess == ‘skip’: a question, he or she can type “skip” and
continue to the next question.
print(‘Skipping’)
Skips straight
continue to the next loop >>>
ans = i * table What’s 1 x 7 ?
if int(guess) == ans: skip Type “skip” to go to
the next question
print(‘Correct!’) Skipping
else: What’s 2 x 7 ? The loop goes around
print(‘No, it\’s’, ans) again as normal when
14 the answer is correct
print(‘Finished’) Correct!
What’s 3 x 7 ?
128 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Lists SEE ALSO

54–55 Strings
and lists
If you need to keep lots of data in one place, then you
can put it in a list. Lists can contain numbers, strings,
Silly 132–133
sentences

other lists, or a combination of all these things.

What is a list?
▽ Looking at lists
A list is a structure in Python where items are kept in
Each item in a list sits inside single
order. Each entry is given a number that you can use to quote marks, and is separated from
refer back to it. You can change, delete, or add to the the next item by a comma. The whole
items in a list at any point. list sits inside a pair of square brackets.
The list is stored in the variable “mylist”

>>> mylist = [‘apple’, ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, ‘icecream’, \ This character is

used to make code
The items in a list are
‘lemonade’, ‘tea’] separated by commas
go over two lines

The items in the list

sit inside a pair of Just like with strings, Python starts counting
square brackets the items in a list from zero. So, here, the
position (or “index”) of “apple” is “0”
[0]
▷ How it works
You can think of a list as a row Typing “mylist[1] = ‘cake’”
of shelves in a kitchen. Each would replace “milk” on shelf 1
shelf holds one item from the
list. To make changes to an
[1] with “cake”

item, you must refer to the

shelf it is on. The value of “mylist[2]”

[2] is “cheese”

You could add an orange in front of the ice

cream by typing “mylist.insert(3, ‘orange’)”.

To get to an item
on the list, you
[3] The ice cream would then move to position
4, and so on

must go to the Writing “del mylist[4]” would delete

right shelf “lemonade” from the list, and move
[4] “tea” into position 4 instead

You could add a new item, “pie”, at

the end of the list by writing “mylist.

The position of an
item in a list is
[5] append(‘pie’)”. This will then be
added after “tea”, in position 6

called its “index”

 LISTS 129
Using lists LINGO
Once a list has been created, you can write programs to Mutable objects
manipulate the data inside it—in a loop, for example.
You can also combine lists to make new lists. Lists in Python are “mutable”.
This means that they can change.
You can add or delete items, or
The list is stored in the variable “names” switch around their order. Other
functions in Python, such as tuples
>>> names = [‘Simon’, ‘Kate’, ‘Vanya’] (see pp.134–135), can’t be altered
once you create them. These are
>>> for item in names: called “immutable”.
print(‘Hello’, item)
The body of the loop must
be indented by four spaces
Hello Simon
◁ Lists in loops
Hello Kate You can use a loop to work through every
When run, this program displays “Hello”,
Hello Vanya followed by each name on the list item in a list. This program says “Hello” to
a series of names, one after the other.

Remember, lists are contained

x = [1, 2, 3, 4] within square brackets
◁ Adding lists
y = [5, 6, 7, 8] Two lists can be
This adds the The new list contains
z = x + y everything from list “x” added together.
lists together
followed by everything The new list will
print(z) from list “y” contain the items
z = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] from both of the
old lists.

▽ Lists in lists
The items in a list can be lists themselves. The Because the list is inside square
“suitcase” list below contains two lists of brackets, it becomes an
individual item within the
clothes—it is like a suitcase shared by two “suitcase[1]”
“suitcase” list—“suitcase[0]”
people, where they each pack three items.

>>> suitcase=[[‘hat’, ‘tie’, ‘sock’],[‘bag’, ‘shoe’, ‘shirt’]]

This will print the whole
>>> print(suitcase) suitcase list
[[‘hat’, ‘tie’, ‘sock’],[‘bag’, ‘shoe’, ‘shirt’]]
>>> print(suitcase[1]) This will print everything in the
second list, “suitcase[1]”
[‘bag’, ‘shoe’, ‘shirt’]
>>> print(suitcase[1][2]) This prints the item at index 2 in
“suitcase[1]”—remember, Python
shirt starts counting the items from zero
130 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Functions SEE ALSO

Silly 132–133
sentences

A function is a piece of code that performs a specific task.
It bundles up the code, gives it a name, and can be used
Variables and 138–139
functions

any time by “calling” it. A function can be used to avoid
entering the same lines of code more than once.

Useful functions
Python contains lots of useful functions for performing certain tasks.
When a function is called, Python retrieves the code for that function
and then runs it. When the function is finished, the program returns to
the line of code that called it and runs the next command.

print() input() randint()

△ “print()” function △ “input()” function △ “randint()” function
This function lets the program This function is the opposite of the This function gives a random
send output to the user by “print()” function. It lets the user number (like throwing a dice).
printing instructions or results give instructions or data to the It can be used to add an element
on the screen. program by typing them in. of chance to programs.

Making and calling functions

The functions that come with Python aren’t the only ones that
can be used. To make a new function, collect the code you want
to use in a special “wrapper” and give it a name. This name
allows the function to be called whenever it is needed.

Define a function Call the function

1 The definition of a function will always 2 Typing the function name followed
have the keyword “def” and the function’s by parentheses into the shell window calls
name at the beginning of the code. the function and shows the output.

A colon marks the end

def greeting(): of the function’s name >>> greeting()
print(‘Hello!’) and the start of the Hello!
code it contains

This is the code The “greeting” Parentheses

within the function function is called show that this is
and the output a function call,
is displayed not a variable
 FUNCTIONS 131
Passing data to functions
A function has to be told which values to work with.
For example, in “print(a, b, c)”, the function “print()” is being
passed the values “a”, “b”, and “c”. In “height(1, 45)”, the values
1 and 45 are being passed to the function “height”.

Add parameters to the function Values are defined

1 Values passed to a function are called 2 The code inside the function
“parameters”. Parameters are put inside the parentheses uses the values that are passed to it.
next to the function’s name in its definition.
Calls the function to give
“m” and “cm” are the parameters the answer when “m” = 1
and “cm” = 45

def height(m, cm): >>> height(1, 45)

total = (100 * m) + cm 145 cm tall
print(total, ‘cm tall’)
Shows that 1 m 45 cm
To work out the total in is equal to 145 cm
Prints the value of “total” “cm”, the value of “m” needs
followed by “cm tall” to be multiplied by 100
(because 1 m = 100 cm)

Getting data back from functions

Functions are most useful when they send some data back
to the program—a return value. To make a function return a
value, add “return” followed by the value to be sent back.

Define a function that returns a number Number as output

1 Python’s “input()” function always returns a string, 2 If the program used the function
even if a number is entered. The new function below The number “input”, “a + b” would put the strings “10”
gives back a number instead. is stored as a and “7” together to give “107”.
string in the
variable “typed”
def num_input(prompt): Enter a 10
typed = input(prompt) Enter b 7
num = int(typed) a + b = 17
return num
Returns the value This converts the string
stored in the variable into a number and stores
Adding “a + b” outputs
it in the variable “num”
a = num_input(‘Enter a’) “17” because the
function “num_input”
b = num_input(‘Enter b’) gives back numbers,
not strings
print(‘a + b =’, a + b)
132 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

PROJECT 5

Silly sentences SEE ALSO

 124–125 While
loops
Loops, functions, and lists can be used individually
for lots of different tasks. They can also be used  128–129 Lists
together to create interesting programs that can  130–131 Functions
do even more complex tasks.

Make silly sentences Try using different words from

the ones shown here to create
This program will make sentences by using three separate your own silly sentences.
lists of words. It will pick one word from each list and put
them together randomly in a silly sentence.

Enter the three lists shown

1 below into a new code window. This Single quotes show
that each item in the
defines the lists that will be used
list is a string
to make the sentences.

name = [‘Neha’, ‘Lee’, ‘Sam’] Square brackets

mean that this
verb = [‘buys’, ‘rides’, ‘kicks’] is a list
noun = [‘lion’, ‘bicycle’, ‘plane’]

Each sentence is made up of words picked

2 at random from the lists you have created. This loads the function for
Define a function to do this, because it will generating a random
be used several times in the program. number (“randint”)

from random import randint

Finds out how many words
def pick(words): are in the list (the function
num_words = len(words) works for lists of any length)
Picks a random number
num_picked = randint(0, num_words - 1) that refers to one of the
items in the list
word_picked = words[num_picked]
return word_picked
Stores the random word that has been
picked in the variable “word_picked”
 S I L LY S E N T E N C E S 133

Print a random silly sentence by running

3 the “pick” function once for each of the Add an “a” so that the
sentence makes sense
three lists. Use the “print” command to
show the sentence on the screen. (see below)

print(pick(name), pick(verb), ‘a’, pick(noun), end=‘.\n’)

This adds a period

Save and run the program to get at the end, while
4 a silly sentence made from the lists the “\n” starts a
new line
of names, verbs, and nouns.

Neha kicks a bicycle.

The sentence is randomly selected

each time the program is run

Silly sentences forever! EXPERT TIPS

A forever loop can be added to the silly sentences Readable code
program to keep it running forever, or until the user
presses “Ctrl-C” to escape the loop. It’s very important to write
a program that can be easily
understood. It makes the program
easier to change in the future
because you don’t have to start by
The program keeps printing silly sentences solving the puzzle of how it works!
1 if the “print” command is wrapped in a “while
True” loop.

while True: Wraps the print command in a loop

print(pick(name), pick(verb), ‘a’, pick(noun), end=‘.’)

Prints a new sentence every time
input() the “Enter” key is pressed

The program will keep on

creating random sentences
The “input()” function
2 waits for the user to press Sam rides a lion.
the “Enter” key before
printing another sentence. Neha kicks a plane.
Without this it would print Lee buys a bicycle.
them too fast to read.
134 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Tuples and dictionaries SEE ALSO

 110–111 Types
of data
Python uses lists for keeping data in order. It also has
other data types for storing information called “tuples”
 128–129 Lists
and “dictionaries”. Data types such as these, which hold
lots of items, are called “containers”.

Tuples
Tuples are a bit like lists, but the items inside them
can’t be changed. Once a tuple is set up it always
Tuples are
stays the same. surrounded
by brackets
◁ What is a tuple?
>>> dragonA = (‘Sam’, 15, 1.70) A tuple contains items separated by
>>> dragonB = (‘Fiona’, 16, 1.68) commas and surrounded by brackets.
Tuples are useful for collecting several
The items in a tuple are bits of data together, such as a dragon’s
separated by commas name, age, and height.

▷ Grabbing an item from a tuple

To get an item from a tuple, use >>> dragonB[2]
its position in the tuple (its index). 1.68
Tuples count from zero, just like
lists and strings. This selects the item
from position 2

◁ Splitting a tuple into variables

>>> name, age, height = dragonA Assign three variables to the tuple
>>> print(name, age, height) “dragonA”—“name“, “age“, and “height“.
Python splits the tuple into three items,
Sam 15 1.7 putting one in each variable.

The items that make up the tuple

“dragonA” are displayed separately Create a list of tuples Lists go in
called “dragons” square brackets

▷ Putting tuples in a list

Tuples can be put into a list because >>> dragons = [dragonA, dragonB]
containers can go inside each >>> print(dragons)
other. Use this code to create
a list of tuples. [(‘Sam’, 15, 1.7), (‘Fiona’, 16, 1.68)]

Each tuple is surrounded by Python displays all the items

round brackets inside the that are in the list, not just
list’s square brackets the names of the tuples
 TUPLES AND DICTIONARIES 135
Dictionaries
Dictionaries are like lists but they have labels. These labels, called “keys”,
identify items instead of index numbers. Every item in a dictionary has
a key and a value. Items in a dictionary don’t have to stay in a particular
order, and the contents of a dictionary can be changed.

Dictionaries Items in a dictionary

use curly are separated Use a colon between
▷ Create a dictionary brackets by commas a key and a value
This program creates a
dictionary called “age”. >>> age = {‘Mary’: 10, ‘Sanjay’: 8}
The key for each item
is the name of a person.
The value is their age. A key works in the A value stored in
same way as an the dictionary (always
index number comes after a colon)

◁ Print the dictionary

>>> print(age) Name of the dictionary
The order of the items
{‘Sanjay’: 8, ‘Mary’: 10} can change, because the
positions of items in a
The key for this The value of dictionary are not fixed.
item is ‘Sanjay’ ‘Mary’ is 10
Dictionary
name New key
▷ Add a new item
A new value can be >>> age[‘Owen’] = 11 Adds a new item to
the dictionary
added to the dictionary >>> print(age)
by labeling it with the
new key. {‘Owen’: 11, ‘Sanjay’: 8, ‘Mary’: 10}

The new value is now The existing values

in the dictionary are still there

◁ Change a value
>>> age[‘Owen’] = 12 Assign a new value to the
Assign a new value to
item labeled ‘Owen’
>>> print(age) an existing key to change
its value.
{‘Owen’: 12, ‘Sanjay’: 8, ‘Mary’: 10}

The value for ‘Owen’

This deletes the item
has changed
labeled ‘Owen’

▷ Delete an item
>>> del age[‘Owen’] The item labeled
Deleting an item in a dictionary ‘Owen’ no longer
doesn’t affect other items because >>> print(age) appears in the
they are identified by their key, not dictionary
by their position in the dictionary. {‘Sanjay’: 8, ‘Mary’: 10}
136 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Lists in variables SEE ALSO

 108–109 Variables
in Python
There’s something about how Python stores lists
in variables that might seem a bit odd at first. But
 128–129 Lists
take a look at what’s going on behind the scenes
and it all makes sense.

Remember how variables

2
only store values?
Variables are like boxes that hold values.
The value in one variable can be copied
a b
and stored in another. It’s like photocopying △ How variables work
the value contained in box “a” and storing Each variable is like a box containing a
a copy in box “b”. piece of paper with a value written on it.

Assign a value to a variable

1 Assign the value 2 to variable >>> a = 2 This copies the contents
of “a” into “b”
“a”, then assign the value in “a” to >>> b = a
variable “b”. The value 2 is copied
and stored in “b”. >>> print(‘a =’, a, ‘b =’, b)
a = 2 b = 2

Now “a” and “b” both This prints out the variable
contain the value 2 names with their values

Change a value
2 If you change the value stored >>> a = 100 Change the value in “a” to 100
in one variable it won’t affect the value >>> print(‘a =’, a, ‘b =’, b)
stored in another variable. In the same
way, changing what’s written on a piece a = 100 b = 2
of paper in box “a” won’t affect what’s on
the paper in box “b”. Now “a” contains 100,
but “b” still contains 2

Change a different value

3 Change the value in “b” to 22. >>> b = 22
Variable “a” still contains 100. Even though >>> print(‘a =’, a, ‘b =’, b)
the value of “b” was copied from “a”
at the start, they are now independent— a = 100 b = 22
changing “b” doesn’t change “a”.
“b” now contains 22,
but “a” is still 100
 L I S TS I N VA R I A B L E S 137
What happens if a list is put in a variable?
Copying the value in a variable creates two independent
copies of the value. This works if the value is a number, but
what about other types of value? If a variable contains a list
it works a bit differently.
Use square brackets
to create a list
Copy a list
1 Store the list [1, 2, 3] in >>> listA = [1, 2, 3] This prints out the variable
names alongside their values
a variable called “listA”. Then >>> listB = listA to see what’s inside them
store the value of “listA” in
another variable called “listB”. >>> print(‘listA =’, listA, ‘listB =’, listB)
Now both variables contain listA = [1, 2, 3] listB = [1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 3].
“listA” and “listB” both This changes the second item in the
hold the same value list because lists count from zero

Change list A
2 Change the value in >>> listA[1] = 1000
“listA[1]” to 1,000. “listB[1]” >>> print(‘listA =’, listA, ‘listB =’, listB)
now contains 1,000 as well.
Changing the original list has listA = [1, 1000, 3] listB = [1, 1000, 3]
changed the copy of the list too.
The second item of both
This is the third “listA” and “listB” has
item in the list been changed
Change list B
3 Change the value of >>> listB[2] = 75
“listB[2]” to 75. “listA[2]” is now >>> print(‘listA =’, listA, ‘listB =’, listB)
75 as well. Changing the copy
of the list has changed the listA = [1, 1000, 75] listB = [1, 1000, 75]
original list as well.
The third item of both “listA” and
“listB” has been changed

[1, 2, 3] EXPERT TIPS

Copying lists
To make a separate copy of a list, use the
“copy” function. “listC” will contain a
link to a completely new list whose values
listA listB are copies of those in “listA”. Changing
“listC” won’t change “listA”, and changing
“listA” won’t change “listC”.
△ What’s going on?
A variable containing a list doesn’t hold the list itself, >>> listC = listA.copy()
just a link to it. Copying the value in “listA” copies the link.
So both “listA” and “listB” contain a link to the same list.
138 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Variables and functions SEE ALSO

 130–131 Functions
Making 158–159 
Variables created inside a function (local variables) shapes
and variables created in the main program
(global variables) work in different ways. Local variables are like film stars
in a car with mirrored windows—
they are inside the car (function)
Local variables but no one can see them

Local variables only exist inside a single function, so

the main program and other functions can’t use them.
If you try to use a local variable outside of the function,
an error message appears.
Variable inside the function Variable outside the function
1 Create a local variable called “a” 2 If you try to print “a” directly The main program doesn’t
inside “func1”. Print out the value of “a” by from the main program, it gives an know what “a” is, so it
calling “func1” from the main program. error. “a” only exists inside “func1”. prints an error message

>>> def func1(): >>> print(a)

a = 10 Traceback (most recent call last):
print(a) File “<pyshell#6>”, line 1, in <module>
>>> func1() Calling “func1” print(a)
prints the value
10 given to “a” NameError: name ‘a’ is not defined

Global variables
A variable created in the main program is
called a global variable. Other functions Global variables
are like people
can read it, but they can’t change its value. walking along the
street—everyone
Variable outside the function Same global variable
1 Create a global variable called “b” in the 2 We can also print “b” directly from the
can see them

main program. The new function (“func2”) can main program. “b” can be seen everywhere
read the value of “b” and print it. because it wasn’t created inside a function.
“func2” can see
>>> b = 1000 the value of “b” >>> print(b)
>>> def func2(): because “b” is a 1000
global variable
print(b)
Global variable “b” can
>>> func2() be used anywhere in
Printing “func2” gives you the main program
1000 the value stored in “b”
 VA R I A B L E S A N D F U N C T I O N S 139
Variables as input to functions
When a variable is used as input to a function its value is copied into a
new local variable. Therefore, changing the value of this new local variable
inside the function doesn’t change the value of the original variable.
Changing values inside a variable Print variable
1 “func3” uses input “y”, which is a local 2 Printing the value of “z” after calling “func3” shows
variable. It prints the value of “y”, then changes it hasn’t changed. Calling “func3” copies the value in “z”
that value to “bread” and prints the new value. (“butter”) into local variable “y”, but “z” is left unchanged.

>>> def func3(y): “y” contains the >>> print(z) Prints the value in global
value passed to variable “z” after “func3” has
print(y) butter finished running
it when “func3”
y = ‘bread’ is called

print(y) Here “y” contains Local variable “y” of “func3” holds a

“bread” copy of the value in “z”. Although “y”
>>> z = ‘butter’ has been changed to “bread”, the
This creates a global value in global variable “z” isn’t
>>> func3(z) variable called “z” affected and is still “butter”
butter The input “y” now contains
the value of “z” passed to it
bread when “func3” is called

Masking a global variable

A global variable can’t be changed by a function. A function trying to
change a global variable actually creates a local variable with the same
name. It covers up, or “masks”, the global variable with a local version.
EXPERT TIPS
Changing a
1 global variable >>> c = 12345 Initial value
in global
Calling functions
Global variable “c” is given >>> def func4(): variable “c”
There are two different ways of
the value 12345. “func4”
gives “c” the value 555 c = 555 calling functions.
and prints it out. It looks print(c)
like our global variable
>>> func4()
function(a)
“c” has been changed. Prints the
value of “c” In Python, items of data are called
555 inside “func4” “objects”. Some functions are called by
passing them the data object (“a”).
Print variable
2 If we print “c” from >>> print(c)
a.function()
outside the function, we 12345
see that “c” hasn’t changed Other functions are called by adding
at all. “func4” only prints The value in global their name at the end of the data
the value of its new local variable “c” hasn’t object (“a”) after a period.
variable—also called “c”. been changed
140 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

PROJECT 6
Drawing machine SEE ALSO

 122–123 Loops
in Python
It’s time to try a more complex project. This program, the
drawing machine, turns a string of simple instructions
Libraries 152–153 
into turtle commands to draw different shapes. The skills
used in planning this program are essential for any coder.

Choose a test shape from turtle import *

To write a program that can draw any shape, reset() Loads all the commands
it’s useful to choose a shape to start with. Use that control the turtle
this house shape as an example to test the left(90)
program at each stage. By the end of the forward(100) Resets the turtle’s position
and puts the pen down
project it will be possible to draw this house right(45) ready to draw
with far less code—by using a single string forward(70)
containing several short drawing commands
(for example, “F100”). right(90) Moves the turtle
forward by 70
forward(70)
right(45)
Makes the turtle turn
forward(100) 90 degrees to the right
right(90)
▷ Turtle draws a house forward(100)
The arrow shows the final
direction and position of the △ Program to draw a house
turtle. Starting at the bottom The turtle This code tells the turtle to draw a house.
left, it has moved clockwise It requires lots of lines of code for what is
around the house. actually quite a simple program.

Three parts Function 1 Function 2 Main program

of the program △ Turtle controller △ String artist △ User interface
The drawing machine will This function takes a In this program, the The String artist needs
be a large program. To help simple command from user enters a string to get its input from
with the planning, it can be the user and turns it into of instructions. This somewhere. The User
a turtle command. The function splits the string interface allows the user
broken down into three user command will into smaller units, which to type in a string of
parts, each one related to come as a single letter are then fed to the commands for the String
a different task. and a number. Turtle controller. artist to work on.
 D R AW I N G M AC H I N E 141

Draw a flowchart EXPERT TIPS

Coders often plan programs on paper, to help them write Squares and diamonds
better code with fewer errors. One way to plan is to draw
a flowchart—a diagram of the steps and decisions that Flowcharts are made up of squares
and diamonds. The squares
the program needs to follow.
contain actions that the program
performs. The diamonds are points
This flowchart shows the plan for the where it makes a decision.
1 Turtle controller function. It takes a
letter (input “do”) and number (input
“val”) and turns them into a turtle
command. For example, “F” and “100”
will be turned into the command
“forward(100)”. If the function doesn’t
recognize the letter, it reports an Action Decision
error to the user.
inputs—do and val
Each command has two variables:
“do” (a string) tells the turtle what If “do” = F, the turtle
to do, and “val” (an integer, or moves forward
whole number) tells the turtle
how much or how far to do it
Y
do == F? forward(val)

The function has to

decide if the “do” value
is a letter it recognizes N If “do” = R,
the turtle
Y turns right
If “do” isn’t F, the function runs do == R? right(val)
through other letters it recognizes

EXPERT TIPS
“do” isn’t “R”. N
Is it “U”?
Letter commands Y
do == U? penup()
The Turtle controller will use
Because “do”
these letters to stand for is “U”, the
different turtle commands: N If “do” isn’t a letter command
the function “penup()”
N = New drawing (reset) recognizes, it stops the
report unknown command
reports an error turtle from
U/D = Pen up/down
drawing
F = Forward
B = Backwards
R = Right turn Once the After any command is
command is finished executed successfully,
L = Left turn return from function you return to the the program goes to
main program the end of the function
142 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

DRAWING MACHINE
The Turtle controller
The first part of the program is a function that moves the turtle,
one command at a time. It is planned out in the flowchart on the
previous page. This code enables the turtle to convert the “do”
Loads all the commands
and “val” values into movement commands. that control the turtle

This code creates the Turtle Defines “do” and “val” as

2 controller function. It turns “do” from turtle import * inputs for the function
inputs into directions for the def turtle_controller(do, val):
turtle, and “val” inputs into
angles and distances. do = do.upper()
if do == ‘F’: This command converts all
the letters in “do” to upper
forward(val) case (capital letters)

elif do == ‘B’:
This tells the function to turn
backward(val) a “do” value of F into the
turtle command “forward”
elif do == ‘R’:
right(val) As in the flowchart, the function
checks the “do” letter against all
elif do == ‘L’: the letters it understands
left(val)
This command tells
This command instructs
the turtle to start elif do == ‘U’: the turtle to stop drawing
drawing on the page
penup() on the page

elif do == ‘D’: This command resets the

pendown() turtle’s position to the
center of the screen
elif do == ‘N’:
reset() This message appears if the
“do” value is a letter that the
else: function cannot recognize
The starting
position of print(‘Unrecognized command’)
the turtle
These “do” and “val”
This calls the function inputs tell the turtle to
using its name move 100 steps forward

Here are some examples of how

3 to use the Turtle controller. Each >>> turtle_controller(‘F’, 100)
This makes the
time it is used, it takes a “do, val” >>> turtle_controller(‘R’, 90) turtle turn right
command and turns it into code 90 degrees
the turtle can understand. >>> turtle_controller(‘F’, 50)
 D R AW I N G M AC H I N E 143

Write some pseudocode EXPERT TIPS

Another way to plan a program is to write it in Clear coding
pseudocode. “Pseudo” means fake, so pseudocode isn’t
real code that you can run. It’s rough code where you can It’s not only computers that need
to be able to read your code, it
write your ideas in the style of the real thing.
should be clear to people too. So
it’s important to make your code
It’s time to plan the String artist. This function takes a as easy to understand as possible.
4 string of several “do” and “val” inputs and breaks it into
pairs made up of a letter and a number. It then passes Use functions to break your code into
the pairs to the Turtle controller one at a time. smaller chunks. Each function should
String of do a single task in the program.
drawing Give your variables and functions
Broken-down F100-R90-F50-R45 commands
names that say what they do: “age_in_
string years” makes more sense than “aiy”.
Use plenty of comments (using
the “#” symbol) to explain what’s
happening. This makes it easier to
read back over the code.
‘F’ 100 ‘R’ 90 ‘F’ 50 ‘R’ 45 Don’t use symbols that can be
confused with others: an upper-case
“O” looks like zero, and a lower-case “L”
This is the String artist written in pseudocode.
can look like an upper-case “i” or a “1”.
5 It lets you organize the ideas and structure of the
code without having to think about the details yet.
The function will take in a string
function string_artist(input—the program as a string): of commands input by the user
(for example, “F100-R90”)

split program string into list of commands Splits string into

a list of separate
for each command in list: commands

A blank command
check it’s not blank won’t work, so the
function skips it
—if it is go on to next item in list
Recognizes the first
command type is the first letter letter as a “do”
command
if followed by more characters Recognizes the
following characters
—turn them into a number as a “val” number

call turtle_controller(command type, number) Passes the simple command

to Turtle controller
144 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

DRAWING MACHINE
Creating the String artist
The pseudocode on the previous page plans a function called the
String artist, which will turn a string of values into single commands
that are sent to the Turtle controller. The next stage is to turn the
pseudocode into real Python code, using a function called “split()”.

The “split()” function splits a string into a list of This string lists the
6 smaller strings. Each break point is marked by a commands to create the
special character ( “-” in this program). sample house shape

>>> program = ‘N-L90-F100-R45-F70-R90-F70-R45-F100-R90-F100’

>>> cmd_list = program.split(‘-’)
The “split()” function breaks the string
>>> cmd_list down into a list of separate commands

[‘N’, ‘L90’, ‘F100’, ‘R45’, ‘F70’, ‘R90’, ‘F70’, ‘R45’, ‘F100’, ‘R90’, ‘F100’]

Now write out the pseudocode for the String artist Tells the program to split the string
7 using real Python code. Use the “split()” function to wherever it sees a “-” character
slice up the input string into turtle commands.
This makes the program loop
through the list of strings—each item
def string_artist(program): is one command for the turtle

cmd_list = program.split(‘-’)
If the length of the command is 0 (so
for command in cmd_list: the command is blank), the function
skips it and moves to the next one
cmd_len = len(command)
if cmd_len == 0: Takes the first character of the command
Gets the
(remember, strings start at 0) and sets it as
length of the
command
continue the command type (“F”, “U”, etc.)
string cmd_type = command[0]
This takes all the remaining
num = 0 Checks if the command characters from the command
is followed by more by cutting off the first one
if cmd_len > 1: characters (the number)
Converts the
characters from num_string = command[1:] Prints the command on the
strings into screen so you can see what
numbers num = int(num_string) the code is doing
print(command, ‘:’, cmd_type, num)
turtle_controller(cmd_type, num) Passes the command
to the turtle
 D R AW I N G M AC H I N E 145

When the string representing the instructions for

8 the house shape is passed into the String artist,
it shows this output in the shell window.

>>> string_artist(‘N-L90-F100-R45-F70-R90-F70-R45-F100-R90-F100’)
N : N 0 Resets the screen and puts
the turtle back at the center The turtle commands
L90 : L 90 are all separated by a “-”

F100 : F 100 For command “F100”, the command

type is “F” and “num” is “100”
R45 : R 45
F70 : F 70
This makes the turtle turn 45
R90 : R 90 degrees before drawing the roof

F70 : F 70
This command makes the
R45 : R 45 turtle draw the right-hand
F100 : F 100 side of the roof

R90 : R 90
The turtle turns 90 degrees
F100 : F 100 right, ready to draw the
bottom of the house

Each command in the R90 REMEMBER

9 string that is passed to the
“string_artist” function is Commands
extracted, identified, and
F70 F70 Here’s a reminder of the turtle
executed. A picture of a
house is drawn in the turtle commands in this program. Some
graphics window. of these are only one letter long,
while others include a number
R45 R45 telling the turtle how far to travel
or turn. Each time you activate
“string_artist”, it adds to the
drawing, until “N” clears the screen.
F100 F100
N = New drawing
U/D = Pen Up/Down
L90
F100 = Forward 100
B50 = Backwards 50
F100 R90 = Right turn 90 deg
The program R90
makes the turtle L45 = Left turn 45 deg
draw a house
146 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

DRAWING MACHINE
Finish off the code with a user interface
The drawing machine needs an interface to make it easier to
use. This will let the user enter a string from the keyboard
to tell the machine what to draw.

This code creates a pop-up window where the The triple quote (‘‘‘) tells Python that
10 user can input instructions. A “while True” loop everything until the next triple quote
is part of the same string, including
lets them keep entering new strings.
the line breaks

instructions = ‘‘‘Enter a program for the turtle:

eg F100-R45-U-F100-L45-D-F100-R90-B50
N = New drawing
U/D = Pen Up/Down
Tells the user what letters
F100 = Forward 100 to use for different turtle
commands
B50 = Backwards 50
R90 = Right turn 90 deg End of the string

L45 = Left turn 45 deg’’’

screen = getscreen() Gets the data needed to This line tells the program
create the pop-up window what to show in the
while True: pop-up window

t_program = screen.textinput(‘Drawing Machine’, instructions)

print(t_program)
if t_program == None or t_program.upper() == ‘END’:
Stops the program
break Passes the string to the
if the user types
“END” or presses
string_artist(t_program) String artist function
the “Cancel” button

This window pops Drawing Machine

11 up over the turtle
Enter a program for the turtle:
window ready for eg F100-R45-U-F100-L45-D-F100-R90-B50
the user to type a N = New drawing
drawing machine U/D = Pen Up/Down
program string. F100 = Forward 100
B50 = Backwards 50
R90 = Right turn 90 deg
△ Turtle control
L45 = Left turn 45 deg
Using this program, the turtle is
Type the program string easier to control, and you don’t
here and then click “OK” OK Cancel have to restart the program to
to run the program draw another picture.
 D R AW I N G M AC H I N E 147

The drawing machine can be used to create more than

12 just outlines. By lifting up the turtle’s pen while moving to
a new position, it’s possible to fill in details inside a shape.
Run the program and try entering the string below.

N-L90-F100-R45-F70-R90-F70-R45-F100-R90-F100-
B10-U-R90-F10-D-F30-R90-F30-R90-F30-R90-F30

Lifts up the turtle’s Puts the pen down to

pen so it moves draw a window
without leaving a line The house now
has a window

Time for something different

Now you know how to add details, you can really have fun
with the drawing machine. Try drawing this owl face using
the string of instructions below.

N-F100-L90-F200-L90-F50-R60-F30-L120-F30-R60-F40-
R60-F30-L120-F30-R60-F50-L90-F200-L90-F100-L90-U-
F150-L90-F20-D-F30-L90-F30-L90-F30-L90-F30-R90-U-
F40-D-F30-R90-F30-R90-F30-R90-F30-L180-U-F60-R90-
D-F40-L120-F40-L120-F40

The string lifts the pen The arrow shows where the
three times to draw the turtle stopped. This means that
eyes and beak separately the owl’s beak was drawn last

REMEMBER
Achievements
You created the drawing machine program Created the function “turtle_controller” that works
by achieving several smaller targets: out what turtle command to execute from the letter
and number it’s been given.
Used a flowchart to plan a function by working out Created the function “string_artist” that produced
the decision points and the resulting actions. a turtle drawing from a string of instructions.
Wrote pseudocode to plan out a function before Made an interface that allows the user to tell
writing out the real code. the program what to draw from the keyboard.
148 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Bugs and debugging SEE ALSO

 94–95 Errors
Programmers aren’t perfect, and most programs  122–123 Loops
in Python
contain errors at first. These errors are known as
“bugs” and tracking them down is called “debugging”.
What next? 176–177 

Types of bugs
Three main types of bugs can turn up in programs—syntax,
runtime, and logic errors. Some are quite easy to spot, while others
are more difficult, but there are ways of finding and fixing them all.
This will cause
The Python keyword an error as no Age cannot be less than 5
is ”for” not “fir” number can be and greater than 8 at the
divided by 0 same time, so no free tickets

fir i in range(5): a = 0 if age < 5 and age > 8:

print(i) print(10 / a) print(‘Free ticket!’)

△ Easy to spot △ Harder to spot △ Hardest to spot

A syntax error is a mistake in the Runtime errors appear only Logic errors are mistakes in a program’s
program’s words or symbols, such when the program is running. thinking. Using “<” instead of “>”, for
as misspelled keywords, missing Adding numbers to strings or example, or adding when you should be
brackets, or incorrect indents. dividing by 0 can cause them. subtracting result in these errors.

Find and fix a bug

Syntax errors are easy to spot because IDLE highlights them in red
when you run the program. Finding runtime and logic errors takes a
bit more work.
Problem
1 program top_num = 5 The highest number in the series
This program aims to total = 0 of numbers being added
add all the numbers
from 1 up to the value for n in range(top_num): This command prints a sentence
stored in the variable to let the user know the result
total = total + n
“top_num”. It then
prints the total. print(‘Sum of numbers 1 to’, top_num, ‘is’, total)

Output
2 The answer for the program should Sum of numbers 1 to 5 is 10
be (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5), but it shows the
answer as “10”. You need to find out why. The answer should be “15”, not “10”
 BUGS AND DEBUGGING 149
Add a “print”
3 and “input()” top_num = 5
The program doesn’t show total = 0
what it’s doing at each This command prints the
step. Adding a “print“ for n in range(top_num): current value of the loop
command here will let total = total + n variable and the total so far
you see what’s happening.
The “input()” command print(‘DEBUG: n=’, n, ‘total=’, total)
waits for the “return” or input()
“Enter” key to be pressed
before looping. print(‘Sum of numbers 1 to’, top_num, ‘is’, total)

New output
4 The loop is only adding the numbers DEBUG: n= 0 total= 0
from 0 up to 4, and not 1 to 5. This is DEBUG: n= 1 total= 1
because a “for” loop always starts counting This is actually the
from 0 (unless told otherwise), and always DEBUG: n= 2 total= 3 sum of the numbers
from 0 to 4, not 1 to 5
stops 1 before the end of the range. DEBUG: n= 3 total= 6
DEBUG: n= 4 total= 10
Sum of numbers 1 to 5 is 10

Fix the
5 faulty line top_num = 5 The new range will count
from 1 and stop at “top_num”
The range should total = 0 (1 less than “top_num + 1”)
go from 1 up to
“top_num + 1”, so that for n in range(1, top_num + 1):
the loop adds up the total = total + n
numbers from 1 to
”top_num” (5). print(‘DEBUG: n=’, n, ‘total=’, total)
input()
print(‘Sum of numbers 1 to’, top_num, ‘is’, total)

Correct output
6 The “print” command shows that DEBUG: n= 1 total= 1
the program is adding the numbers from DEBUG: n= 2 total= 3 When “n= 3”, the
1 to 5 and getting the correct answer. total is (1 + 2 + 3)
The bug has now been fixed! DEBUG: n= 3 total= 6
DEBUG: n= 4 total= 10
The correct answer
DEBUG: n= 5 total= 15 is now printed
Sum of numbers 1 to 5 is 15
150 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Algorithms SEE ALSO

 16–17 Think like

a computer
An algorithm is a set of instructions for performing a task.
Some algorithms are more efficient than others and take
Libraries 152–153 
less time or effort. Different types of algorithms can be
used for simple tasks such as sorting a list of numbers.

Insertion sort
Imagine you’ve been given your class’s exam papers to put
in order from the lowest to the highest mark. “Insertion
sort” creates a sorted section at the top of the pile and then
inserts each unsorted paper into the correct position. △ Sorting in order
“Insertion sort” takes each
▽ How it works When counting the paper in turn and inserts it into
“Insertion sort” goes through each positions, Python starts at 0 the correct (sorted) place.
of these stages sorting the numbers
far quicker than a human could. 0 1 2 3 4 5
6 is sorted into position 1 2 6 5 1 4 3
6 is more than 2, so is sorted
after 2 in the sorted section

5 is sorted into position 1 2 6 5 1 4 3

The value of 5 is between 2 and 6, so
moves to position 1. 6 shifts to position 2

1 is sorted into position 0 2 5 6 1 4 3

1 is less than 2, so moves to
position 0. 2, 5, and 6 shuffle down

4 is sorted into position 2 1 2 5 6 4 3

4 is between 2 and 5, so
moves to position 2.
5 and 6 shuffle down

3 is sorted into position 2 1 2 4 5 6 3

Sorted! 1 2 3 4 5 6
4, 5, and 6 shuffle along to
make room for 3 in position 2
 ALGORITHMS 151
Selection sort
“Selection sort” works differently to “insertion sort”. It swaps
pairs of items rather than constantly shifting all of the items.
Each swap moves one number to its final (sorted) position.
Swap the smallest value
with the first value
△ Swapping positions
Switching one thing with another
is usually quick and doesn’t affect
Swaps 1 and 2 2 6 5 1 4 3 anything else in the list.

Swap the smallest value in the unsorted part (2)

with the first value in the unsorted part (6)

Swaps 2 and 6 1 6 5 2 4 3

3 is the smallest value in the

Swaps 3 and 5 1 2 5 6 4 3 unsorted part. Swap it with 5, the
first value in the unsorted part

Swaps 4 and 6 1 2 3 6 4 5 5 isn’t in the right position

yet, but 4 is smaller so it’s
swapped first

Swaps 5 and 6 1 2 3 4 6 5
The largest number is in last position
after the swap, so no further
swapping is required
Sorted! 1 2 3 4 5 6
EXPERT TIPS
Sorting in Python
There are lots of different sorting “a” is a list of
algorithms, each with different unsorted numbers
strengths and weaknesses. Python’s
“sort()” function uses an algorithm >>> a = [4, 9, 3, 8, 2, 6, 1, 5, 7]
called “Timsort”, named after its >>> a.sort()
designer, Tim Peters. It’s based on This calls the
“sort()” function The numbers
two sorting algorithms: “Insertion >>> a in list “a” are
sort” and “Merge sort”. Type in this [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] now sorted
code to see how it works.
152 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Libraries SEE ALSO

Making 154–155
windows

Writing new code takes time, so it’s useful to be able
to reuse bits of other programs. These snippets of
Color and 156–157
coordinates

code can be shared in packages called “libraries”.

◁ Batteries
Standard Library modules included
Python comes with a “Standard Library” that has Python’s motto
lots of useful bits of code ready to use. Stand-alone is “batteries are
included”. This
sections of a library called “modules” can be added means it comes
to Python to make it even more powerful. with lots of ready-
to-use code.
◁ Random
This module can pick
a random number,
or shuffle a list into ▽ Turtle
a random order. This module is used to
draw lines and shapes
on the screen.

△ Time
The Time module gives the current
time and date, and can calculate
dates—for instance, what day will
it be in three days’ time?

▽ Tkinter
Tkinter is used to make buttons,
windows, and other graphics that
help users interact with programs. ▷ Math
Use the Math
module to work
with complex
mathematical
calculations.
△ Socket
The code in this module helps
computers connect to each other
over networks and the Internet.
 LIBRARIES 153
Importing modules EXPERT TIPS
Before using a module, you have to tell the computer Pygame
to import it so it can be used by your program. This
allows the bits of code it contains to be available to you. Pygame is a
Python library
Importing modules is done using the “import” command.
designed for
Python can import modules in a few different ways. writing video
games. Pygame
gives you access to sound modules
◁ “import random” and special graphics that can be
import random This way of importing used in games. You’ll be able to
requires you to type the use Pygame once you have a good
module name at the start of understanding of the basics of
random.randint(1, 6) the code. It makes it easier to Python covered in this book.
random.choice(my_list) read because you know
which module it came from.
The module name comes Imports all the functions
before each function from the Random module

▷ “from random import *”

Importing a module like this works well for from random import *
small programs. But it can get confusing
with bigger programs because it isn’t clear
which module the function belongs to. randint(1, 6) This code doesn’t show
which module the
choice(my_list) function came from

Imports only the

“randint” function

◁ “from random import randint”

from random import randint You can import a single function from
the module. This can be more efficient
than importing the whole module if
randint(1, 6) it’s the only function you want to use.
Only the “randint”
function is available

Help and documentation Help ◁ Help!

At the top of any IDLE
Not sure how to use a module or what functions About IDLE window, click “Help” and
are available? The Python Library Reference has choose “Python Docs”.
IDLE Help This brings up a window
all the details. Simply click on the library you
with lots of useful
want to learn more about. It’s a good idea to get Python Docs
information.
to know the libraries, modules, and functions
that are available, so you don’t waste time
writing code that already exists.
154 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Making windows SEE ALSO

Color and 156–157
coordinates

Many programs have windows and buttons that can
be used to control them. These make up the “graphical
Making 158–159
shapes

user interface”, or “GUI” (pronounced “gooey”). Changing 160–161 
things

Make a simple window

The first step in creating a GUI is to make the window that
will hold everything else inside it. Tkinter (from Python’s
Standard Library) can be used to create a simple one.

Enter the code A Tkinter window appears

1 This code imports Tkinter from the 2 Run the code and a window appears.
library and creates a new window. Tkinter This imports Tkinter It looks a bit dull for now, but this is only the
must be imported before it can be used. from the library first part of your GUI.

from tkinter import * Tk

window = Tk()

This creates a Tkinter

window

Add buttons to the window

Make the GUI more interactive by adding buttons. Create two buttons
A different message will be displayed when the 1 Write this code to create a
user clicks each button. simple window with two buttons.

from tkinter import * This message appears when

button A is pressed
def bAaction():
This message appears
print(‘Thank you!’) when button B is pressed

def bBaction(): This tells the program

This label will appear which function to run
print(‘Ouch! That hurt!’) on button A when the button is clicked
window = Tk()
buttonA = Button(window, text=‘Press me!’, command=bAaction)
buttonB = Button(window, text=‘Don\’t press!’, command=bBaction)
buttonA.pack() This label will appear
This code tells the computer to
buttonB.pack() put the buttons in the window on button B
 MAKING WINDOWS 155
Click the buttons Click the button to Output appears in
2 to print messages
Tk show a message the shell window
When the program is run, a window
with two buttons appears. Click the Press me! Thank you!
buttons and different messages will
appear in the shell. You’ve now made
an interactive GUI that responds to
Don’t press! Ouch! That hurt!
the user’s commands.

Roll the dice

Tkinter can be used to build a GUI for a simple
application. The code below creates a program
that simulates rolling a six-sided dice.
Create a dice simulator
1 This program creates a button that,
when pressed, tells the function “roll()” to
display a random number between 1 and 6.

from tkinter import * This imports the

function “randint” from
from random import randint the random library This code clears the text inside the
def roll(): text box and replaces it with a
random number between 1 and 6
text.delete(0.0, END)
text.insert(END, str(randint(1,6))) This tells the
Creates a text box to display program which
window = Tk() the random number function to run when
the button is clicked
text = Text(window, width=1, height=1)
buttonA = Button(window, text=‘Press to roll!’, command=roll)
text.pack() This label appears
This puts the text box and
buttonA.pack() the button in the window on the button

EXPERT TIPS
Press the button to
2 roll the dice
Tk
Clear and simple
Run the program, then click the
button to roll the dice and see the When you’re designing a GUI, try
result. This program can be simply 6 not to confuse the user by filling
changed so that it simulates a the screen with too many buttons.
12-sided dice, or a coin being tossed. Label each button with a sensible
Press to roll!
name to make the application
A new number appears here easy to understand.
each time the button is clicked
156 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Color and coordinates SEE ALSO

154–155 Making
windows
Pictures and graphics on a computer screen are
made up of tiny colored dots called pixels. To
Making 158–159
shapes

create graphics in a program, the computer needs Changing 160–161 
things
to be told exactly what color each pixel should be.

Selecting colors EXPERT TIPS

It’s important to describe colors in a way that Mixing colors
computers can understand. Tkinter includes a
useful tool to help you do this. Each pixel can give out red, green,
and blue light. By mixing these
colors together, you can make
Launch the color selection tool any color imaginable.
1 Type the following code into the shell
window to launch the Tkinter tool This imports all of the Red and Red and blue
for selecting colors. Tkinter functions green make make purple
yellow R
>>> from tkinter import *
>>> t = Tk()
>>> colorchooser.askcolor() G B
Use the American Mixing all three
spelling of color makes white
Select the color you
want by clicking on it

Choose a color
2 The “color chooser” window will
appear. Pick the color you want and
then click the “OK” button.

This window makes it

easy to pick the exact
color you want

Color values
3 When a color is selected, a list ((60.234, 190.742, 52.203), ‘#3cbe34’)
of numbers will appear in the shell
window. These numbers are the values Red value Green value Blue value Code for the color
of red, green, and blue that have been in hexadecimal
mixed to make the chosen color. (see pp.182–183)
 C O L O R A N D C O O R D I N AT E S 157
Drawing on a canvas EXPERT TIPS
To create graphics using Python, Coordinates
you need to make a blank area to
draw on. This is known as a canvas. In Tkinter, x coordinates get larger moving to
the right, and y coordinates get larger moving
You can use x and y coordinates to
downward. (0,0) is in the top-left corner.
tell Python exactly where to draw
on the canvas. +x
(0,0)
(300,50)
+y (50,100)
Create a graphics program
1 Use this code to create a window and (250,200)
put a canvas inside it. It will then draw
random circles on the canvas.
This imports the “randint” and “choice”
from random import * functions from the Random module
from tkinter import * This imports all of the
Tkinter functions
size = 500
The variable “size” sets the
window = Tk() dimensions of the canvas

canvas = Canvas(window, width=size, height=size) This creates a

canvas inside
canvas.pack() A forever loop makes the a window
program draw circles endlessly
while True: This chooses a random color from the list
col = choice([‘pink’, ‘orange’, ‘purple’, ‘yellow’])
x0 = randint(0, size)
This creates a circle of a
y0 = randint(0, size) random size in a random
place on the canvas
d = randint(0, size/5)
canvas.create_oval(x0, y0, x0 + d, y0 + d, fill=col)
window.update() This part of the line draws the circle

This part fills it with the

Colored canvas color that has been
2 Run the code and the
Tk
chosen ( “col”)
program will start drawing
circles on the canvas.

The size of each

circle is random

Circles are drawn in

random places
158 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Making shapes SEE ALSO

Changing 160–161
things

As well as adding windows, buttons, and colors to
a graphical user interface (GUI), Tkinter can also be
Reacting 162–163
to events

used to draw shapes.

Creating basic shapes

Rectangles and ovals are useful shapes for drawing all
sorts of things. Once a canvas has been created, the
following functions can be used to draw shapes on it.

Sets the size

>>> from tkinter import * of the canvas
Creates a canvas
>>> window = Tk() to draw on Sets the position and
size of the rectangle
>>> drawing = Canvas(window, height=500, width=500) using coordinates
>>> drawing.pack() Draws a rectangle (see below)

>>> rect1 = drawing.create_rectangle(100, 100, 300, 200)

>>> square1 = drawing.create_rectangle(30, 30, 80, 80)
>>> oval1 = drawing.create_oval(100, 100, 300, 200) A square can be made by
drawing a rectangle with
>>> circle1 = drawing.create_oval(30, 30, 80, 80) all sides the same length

Sets the position

Draws a circle and size of the circle

▽ Coordinates grid
Drawing with coordinates The top-left corner of the rectangle
Coordinates are used to tell the computer exactly is at coordinates (50, 50). The
where to create shapes. The first number (“x”) tells the bottom-right corner is at (250, 350).
computer how far along the screen to go. The second
0 100 200 300 400 500
number (“y”) tells the computer how far down to go.
0

(x1=50, y1=50)
100

This is the name of Coordinates for the

the canvas top left of the rectangle
200

>>> drawing.create_rectangle(50, 50, 250, 350)

300

△ Setting the coordinates (x2=250, y2=350)

Coordinates for
The first two numbers give the the bottom right
400

coordinates for the top-left corner of the of the rectangle

rectangle. The second two numbers
500

locate the bottom-right corner.

 MAKING SHAPES 159
Adding color to shapes
It’s also possible to create colored shapes. Code
Creates a solid
can be used to set different colors for the outline blue circle with
and the inside (“fill”) of each shape. a red outline

>>> drawing.create_oval(30, 30, 80, 80, outline=‘red’, fill=‘blue’)

Draw an alien
You can draw almost anything by combining different
shapes. Here are some instructions for creating an alien
using ovals, lines, and triangles.

Create the alien

1 For each part of the alien, you must define the type of
shape, size, position on the canvas, and color. Each shape
has a unique ID number that can be stored in a variable.

from tkinter import *

Sets “Alien” as the
window = Tk() title of the window
Creates the canvas
window.title(‘Alien’)
Draws a green oval
c = Canvas(window, height=300, width=400) for the body
c.pack()
body = c.create_oval(100, 150, 300, 250, fill=‘green’) Draws a black dot
inside the eye
eye = c.create_oval(170, 70, 230, 130, fill=‘white’)
eyeball = c.create_oval(190, 90, 210, 110, fill=‘black’)
mouth = c.create_oval(150, 220, 250, 240, fill=‘red’) Draws a red oval
neck = c.create_line(200, 150, 200, 130) for the mouth

hat = c.create_polygon(180, 75, 220, 75, 200, 20, fill=‘blue’)

Draws a blue
triangle for the
alien’s hat

Meet the alien

2 Run the code to draw
the alien. It has a green body, The finished alien
a red mouth, and one eye
on a stalk. It’s also wearing
a lovely blue hat.
160 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Changing things SEE ALSO

 158–159 Making
shapes
Once a graphic has been drawn on the canvas, it doesn’t
need to stay the same. Code can be used to change the
Reacting to 162–163
events

way it looks, or move it around the screen.

Moving shapes REMEMBER

To make a shape move on the canvas, you need to Meaningful names
tell the computer what to move (the name or ID
you gave the shape) and where to move it. It’s a good idea to use sensible
names to identify the shapes
The eyeball on the canvas. These pages
turns left, then use names like “eyeball” and
back again
“mouth” so the code is easy
to read and understand.

Shape’s name,
or ID
◁ Moving eyeballs
>>> c.move(eyeball, -10, 0) Type this code into the shell
>>> c.move(eyeball, 10, 0) window to make the eyeball turn
to the left, then turn back again.
This function Sets coordinates
moves shapes for the movement

Changing colors
You can make the mouth look as though
it is opening and closing by simply
changing the color of the oval.
Mouth open
Mouth
The function closed
Write the code Open and close
1 Type this code to create two
“itemconfig()” changes
the properties The opened
2 Type this code into the shell window
functions that will make the mouth of shapes you’ve mouth will to make the mouth open and close.
seem to open and close. already drawn be black

def mouth_open(): >>> mouth_open()

c.itemconfig(mouth, fill=‘black’) >>> mouth_close()
def mouth_close(): The shape’s ID The closed Enter these commands to
mouth will make the alien open and
c.itemconfig(mouth, fill=‘red’) be red close its mouth
 CHANGING THINGS 161
Hide and show ◁ Blinking alien
Shapes can be hidden using the “itemconfig()” To make the alien blink,
function. If you hide the eyeball, and then you need to hide the
pupil and make the
show it again a moment later, the alien looks white of the eye green.
as though it is blinking.

Create blinking functions Blink and unblink

1 This code creates two functions
Turns the
white of the
2 Type this code into the shell
so you can make the alien blink. eye green window to make the alien blink.

def blink(): The shape’s ID >>> blink()

c.itemconfig(eye, fill=‘green’) >>> unblink()
c.itemconfig(eyeball, state=HIDDEN) The “unblink()”
Makes the eye command makes
def unblink(): Hides the
white again the eye appear
pupil
c.itemconfig(eye, fill=‘white’) open again
Reveals the
c.itemconfig(eyeball, state=NORMAL) pupil

Saying things
Text can also be displayed on the screen to make I am an alien!
the alien talk. You can even make it say different things
in response to user commands.

Adding text
1 This code adds text to the graphic Positions the text Put what you want
of the alien and creates a function to on the canvas the alien to say in
steal its hat. quote marks

words = c.create_text(200, 280, text=‘I am an alien!’)

def steal_hat(): This hides
the hat As soon as the hat
c.itemconfig(hat, state=HIDDEN) disappears the alien
c.itemconfig(words, text=‘Give my hat back!’) will ask for it back

A new message
appears when the
hat disappears Give my hat back!
Steal the hat
2 Type this code into the shell window
and see what happens.
Type this to
steal the hat
>>> steal_hat()
162 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

Reacting to events SEE ALSO

 158–159 Making
shapes
Computers receive a signal when a key is pressed or a
mouse is moved. This is called an “event”. Programs can
 160–161 Changing
things
instruct the computer to respond to any events it detects.

Event names
Lots of different events can be triggered using
input devices like a mouse or keyboard. Tkinter
has names to describe each of these events.

Mouse events Keyboard events

<Button-1> <Right> <Up>
Left mouse Right arrow Up arrow Down arrow
button clicked key pressed key pressed key pressed

<Button-3> <Left> <Down>

Right mouse Left arrow
key pressed “A” key Different letters
button clicked pressed can go here

Spacebar
pressed
<space> <KeyPress-a>

Mouse events
To make a program respond to mouse events, simply link Burp!
(or bind) a function to an event. Here, the function “burp”
is created, then bound to the “<Button-1>” event.
This brings the Tkinter window
to the front of your screen

window.attributes(‘-topmost’, 1)
def burp(event): Creates a function
called “burp” △ Burping alien
mouth_open()
Click the left mouse button and
c.itemconfig(words, text=‘Burp!’) the alien lets out a burp. This
Links the left mouse click is because the “burp” function
c.bind_all(‘<Button-1>’, burp) to the “burp” function
has been used.
 REACTING TO EVENTS 163
Key events
Functions can also be bound to keys on the keyboard in
the same way. Type in the code below to make the alien
blink when the “A” and “Z” keys are pressed.

Makes the eye

def blink2(event): green (closed)
c.itemconfig(eye, fill=‘green’)
c.itemconfig(eyeball, state=HIDDEN)
def unblink2(event): Hides the
eyeball
c.itemconfig(eye, fill=‘white’)
c.itemconfig(eyeball, state=NORMAL)
c.bind_all(‘<KeyPress-a>’, blink2)
c.bind_all(‘<KeyPress-z>’, unblink2)
Shows the
eyeball
a z
△ Make the alien blink
When this code is run, the “A” key
This code links This binds the function will make the eye close, and the
functions to events “unblink2” to the “Z” key “Z” key will make it open again.

Moving with keys

Key presses can also be used to trigger movement.
This code binds the arrow keys to functions that make
the alien’s eyeball move.

This line finds out the

def eye_control(event): name of the pressed key
key = event.keysym
The eyeball moves
if key == “Up”: up if the up arrow
key is pressed
c.move(eyeball, 0, -1)
elif key == “Down”: The eyeball
moves left if the
c.move(eyeball, 0, 1) left arrow key is
pressed
elif key == “Left”:
c.move(eyeball, -1, 0) Activates the
function
elif key == “Right”: “eye_control”
when any key
c.move(eyeball, 1, 0) is pressed △ Eyeball control
c.bind_all(‘<Key>’, eye_control) The eyeball moves in the direction
of the pressed arrow key.
164 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

PROJECT 7
Bubble blaster SEE ALSO

154–155 Making
windows
This project uses all the skills taught in this chapter
to make a game. It’s a big project, so tackle it in stages
 156–157 Color and
coordinates
and remember to save the program regularly. Try to  158–159 Making
shapes
understand how each part fits together before moving
on to the next stage. By the end you’ll have a game
that you can play and share with friends.

Aim of the game

Before writing any code, think about the overall plan for the
game and how it should work. Here are the main rules that
set out how the game will be played:

The player controls a submarine

The arrow keys move the submarine
Popping bubbles scores points
A timer is set to 30 seconds at the start
Scoring 1,000 points earns extra time
The game ends when the time runs out
 BUBBLE BLASTER 165

Create the game window IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window Help

and the submarine Bubble Blaster

Start by setting the scene. Open a new code

window in IDLE. Type in the code below to
create the window for the game, and the
submarine that the player controls.

Use the Tkinter library to build the graphical

1 user interface (GUI). This code will create the
main window for the game.

Imports all of the

from tkinter import *
Tkinter functions
HEIGHT = 500
Sets the size
WIDTH = 800 of the window Sets dark blue as
Give the game the color of the
window = Tk()
a snappy title background (the sea)
window.title(‘Bubble Blaster’)
c = Canvas(window, width=WIDTH, height=HEIGHT, bg=‘darkblue’)
c.pack()
Creates a canvas that
can be drawn on The submarine will
be represented by a
triangle inside a circle

A simple graphic will represent the submarine in this

2 game. This can be made using some of the drawing
Draws a red triangle
functions from Tkinter. Type out this code, then run it. for the submarine

ship_id = c.create_polygon(5, 5, 5, 25, 30, 15, fill=‘red’)

ship_id2 = c.create_oval(0, 0, 30, 30, outline=‘red’)
The radius (size) of the submarine
SHIP_R = 15
The variables “MID_X” and Draws a red
MID_X = WIDTH / 2 “MID_Y” give the coordinates of circle outline

MID_Y = HEIGHT / 2 the middle of the screen

c.move(ship_id, MID_X, MID_Y) Moves both parts of the submarine

to the center of the screen Don’t forget to
c.move(ship_id2, MID_X, MID_Y) save your work
166 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

BUBBLE BLASTER
Controlling the submarine
The next stage of the program is to write the code that makes the
submarine move when the arrow keys are pressed. The code will
create a function called an “event handler”. The event handler
checks which key has been pressed and moves the submarine.

Type this code to create a function called “move_ship”. This

3 function will move the submarine in the correct direction when
a cursor key is pressed. Try running it to see how it works.

The sub will move this

SHIP_SPD = 10 far when a key is pressed
def move_ship(event):
if event.keysym == ‘Up’:
c.move(ship_id, 0, -SHIP_SPD) Moves the two parts of
the sub up when the up
c.move(ship_id2, 0, -SHIP_SPD) arrow key is pressed

elif event.keysym == ‘Down’:

c.move(ship_id, 0, SHIP_SPD) These lines are activated when
the down arrow key is pressed,
c.move(ship_id2, 0, SHIP_SPD) and the sub moves down
elif event.keysym == ‘Left’:
c.move(ship_id, -SHIP_SPD, 0) The sub moves left when the
left arrow key is pressed
c.move(ship_id2, -SHIP_SPD, 0)
elif event.keysym == ‘Right’: Moves the sub right
c.move(ship_id, SHIP_SPD, 0) when the right
arrow key is pressed
c.move(ship_id2, SHIP_SPD, 0) y coordinate gets
smaller moving up
c.bind_all(‘<Key>’, move_ship)
Tells Python to run “move_ship”
whenever any key is pressed

x coordinate gets
smaller going left

▷ How it works
The “move_ship” function moves the
sub in different directions. Adding to
the sub’s x and y coordinates moves
Don’t forget to it right and down, while subtracting y coordinate gets x coordinate gets
save your work from them moves it left and up. larger moving down larger going right
 BUBBLE BLASTER 167

Get ready for bubbles

Now the submarine can move, start creating the
bubbles for the player to pop. Each bubble will be
a different size and move at a different speed.
Every bubble needs an ID number (so the
4 program can identify each specific bubble),
a size, and a speed.

from random import randint

bub_id = list() This creates three empty lists
used to store the ID, radius (size),
bub_r = list() and speed of each bubble
bub_speed = list()
MIN_BUB_R = 10 Sets the minimum radius of
the bubble to 10, and the
MAX_BUB_R = 30 maximum to 30

MAX_BUB_SPD = 10
Sets the position
GAP = 100 of the bubble on Picks a random size for
the canvas the bubble, between the
def create_bubble(): minimum and maximum
x = WIDTH + GAP values possible

y = randint(0, HEIGHT) This line of code creates

the bubble shape
r = randint(MIN_BUB_R, MAX_BUB_R)
id1 = c.create_oval(x - r, y - r, x + r, y + r, outline=’white’)
bub_id.append(id1) Adds the ID, radius, and
speed of the bubble to
bub_r.append(r) the three lists
bub_speed.append(randint(1, MAX_BUB_SPD))

EXPERT TIPS
Bubble lists
Three lists are used to store bub_id: stores the ID number of the
information about each bubble. The bubble so the program can move it later.
lists start off empty, and information bub_r: stores the radius (size) of
about each bubble is then added the bubble.
as you create it. Each list stores a bub_speed: stores how fast the bubble
different bit of information. travels across the screen. Don’t forget to
save your work
168 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

BUBBLE BLASTER
Make the bubbles move
There are now lists to store the ID, size, and speed of the bubbles,
which are randomly generated. The next stage is to write the code
that makes the bubbles move across the screen.

This function will go

Goes through each
5 through the list of def move_bubbles(): bubble in the list
bubbles and move for i in range(len(bub_id)):
each one in turn.
c.move(bub_id[i], -bub_speed[i], 0)

Moves the bubble

across the screen Imports the functions
according to its speed you need from the
Time library

This will be the main

6 loop for the game. It from time import sleep, time
will be repeated over BUB_CHANCE = 10
and over while the
Generates a random
game is running. Try #MAIN GAME LOOP number from 1 to 10
running it! while True:
if randint(1, BUB_CHANCE) == 1:
If the random number
create_bubble() is 1, the program
creates a new bubble
move_bubbles() Runs the “move_bubbles” (on average 1 in 10
window.update() function times – so there aren’t
too many bubbles!)
Don’t forget to Updates the window to redraw
sleep(0.01)
save your work bubbles that have moved

Slows the game down so

it’s not too fast to play
(x0, y0)
Now you’re going to create a useful function to find out where a
7 particular bubble is, based on the ID. This code should be added
to the program directly after the code you created in step 5.
(x, y)
Works out the
def get_coords(id_num): x coordinate of the
pos = c.coords(id_num) middle of the bubble (x1, y1)
x = (pos[0] + pos[2])/2 △ Locating bubbles
The function finds the middle
y = (pos[1] + pos[3])/2 Works out the
y coordinate of the of the bubble by taking the
return x, y middle of the bubble point halfway between the
corners of the box around it.
 BUBBLE BLASTER 169

How to make bubbles pop

The player will score points when the bubbles are popped, so
the program has to make bubbles disappear from the screen.
These next functions will allow it to do that.

This function deletes

the bubble with ID “i”

This function will be used to remove

def del_bubble(i): Deletes the bubble from
8 a bubble from the game. It does this the radius and speed lists
by deleting it from all the lists, and del bub_r[i]
from the canvas. This code should
be added directly after the code del bub_speed[i]
you typed out in step 7. c.delete(bub_id[i])
Deletes the bubble
del bub_id[i] from the canvas

Deletes the bubble

from the ID list

Type this code to

9 create a function def clean_up_bubs():
that cleans up for i in range(len(bub_id)-1, -1, -1):
bubbles that have
x, y = get_coords(bub_id[i]) This goes through the
floated off the screen. bubble list backward
This code should go if x < -GAP: to avoid the “for” loop
directly after the Finds out where
causing an error when
del_bubble(i) the bubble is
code from step 8. bubbles are deleted

If the bubble is off the screen

then it is deleted; otherwise, it
would slow the game down

Now update the main

10 game loop (from step #MAIN GAME LOOP Makes a new bubble
6) to include the while True:
helpful functions you
have just created. if randint(1, BUB_CHANCE) == 1:
Run it to make sure create_bubble() Updates the positions
you haven’t included of all the bubbles
any errors. move_bubbles()
clean_up_bubs()
Removes bubbles window.update() Redraws the window
that are off the screen Don’t forget to
sleep(0.01) to show the changes
save your work
170 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

BUBBLE BLASTER
Figuring out the distance between points
In this game, and lots of others, it is useful to know the distance
between two objects. Here’s how to use a well-known mathematical
formula to have the computer work it out.

This function calculates the distance between

11 two objects. Add this bit of code directly after
Loads the “sqrt” function
the code you wrote in step 9.
from the Math library

from math import sqrt Gets the position of

def distance(id1, id2): the first object

x1, y1 = get_coords(id1) Gets the position of

the second object
Gives back the distance
x2, y2 = get_coords(id2) between them
return sqrt((x2 - x1)**2 + (y2 - y1)**2)

Pop the bubbles

The player scores points by popping bubbles. Big bubbles
and fast bubbles are worth more points. The next section of
code works out when each bubble is popped by using its
radius (the distance from the center to the edge).
▷ Collision sensing
If the distance between
When the submarine and a bubble crash into each other, the the center of the sub and the center
12 program needs to pop the bubble and update the score. This of a bubble is less than their radiuses
bit of code should come directly after the code in step 11. added together, they have collided.

This variable keeps This loop goes through the entire list
def collision(): track of points scored of bubbles (it goes backwards to
avoid errors when deleting bubbles) Checks for collisions
points = 0 between the sub
for bub in range(len(bub_id)-1, -1, -1): and any bubbles

if distance(ship_id2, bub_id[bub]) < (SHIP_R + bub_r[bub]):

points += (bub_r[bub] + bub_speed[bub])
del_bubble(bub) Calculates the number of
Deletes the bubble points this bubble is worth
return points and adds it to “points”

Gives back the

number of points
 BUBBLE BLASTER 171

Now update the main game loop to use the

13 functions you have just created. Remember that
the order is important, so make sure you put
everything in the right place. Then run the code.
Bubbles should burst when they hit the sub.
Check the shell window to see the score.

score = 0
#MAIN GAME LOOP Sets the score to zero
when the game starts
while True:
Creates new bubbles
if randint(1, BUB_CHANCE) == 1:
create_bubble()
move_bubbles() Adds the bubble
clean_up_bubs() score to the total

score += collision()
print(score)
window.update() Shows the score in the shell
window—it will be displayed
sleep(0.01) properly later

This pauses the action for

a very short time—try
removing this and see
what happens

EXPERT TIPS
Python shortcut Don’t forget to
save your work

The code “score += collision()”

is a shortcut for writing
“score = score + collision()”. It adds
the collision score to the total
score, then updates the total score.
Code like this is common, so a
shortcut is useful. You can also do
the same thing using the “–”
symbol. For example, “score –= 10”
is the same as “score = score – 10”.
172 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

BUBBLE BLASTER
Adding a few final touches
The main stages of the game are now working. All that remains
is to add the final parts: displaying the player’s score, and setting
a time limit that counts down until the game ends.

Type in this code after the code you entered in step Creates “TIME” and “SCORE”
14 12. It tells the computer to display the player’s score labels to explain to the player
and the time left in the game. what the numbers mean

c.create_text(50, 30, text=‘TIME’, fill=‘white’ )

c.create_text(150, 30, text=‘SCORE’, fill=‘white’ )
Sets the scores and
time_text = c.create_text(50, 50, fill=‘white’ ) time remaining

score_text = c.create_text(150, 50, fill=‘white’ )

def show_score(score): Displays the score
c.itemconfig(score_text, text=str(score))
Displays the
def show_time(time_left): time remaining
c.itemconfig(time_text, text=str(time_left))

Next, set up the time limit and the score required to gain
15 bonus time, and calculate the end time of the game. This
bit of code should come just before the main game loop.

from time import sleep, time

Imports functions from
BUB_CHANCE = 10 the Time library
TIME_LIMIT = 30 Starts the game with a
30-second time limit
BONUS_SCORE = 1000
Sets when bonus time is
score = 0
given (when a player has SCORE
bonus = 0 scored 1,000 points)

end = time() + TIME_LIMIT

Stores the finish time in △ Scoreboard

a variable called “end” Scoreboards are a great visual way to
show players at a glance how well they
are doing in a game.
 BUBBLE BLASTER 173

Update the main Repeats the main game loop

16 game loop to include #MAIN GAME LOOP until the game ends
the new score and while time() < end:
time functions.
if randint(1, BUB_CHANCE) == 1:
create_bubble()
move_bubbles()
Calculates when to
clean_up_bubs() give bonus time

score += collision()
if (int(score / BONUS_SCORE)) > bonus:
bonus += 1 “print(score)” has been replaced by
“show_score(score)” so that the score
end += TIME_LIMIT now appears in the game window
show_score(score)
show_time(int(end - time()))
window.update()
Displays the time remaining
Don’t forget to sleep(0.01)
save your work

Finally, add a “GAME OVER” graphic. This will be Sets the font—
17 shown when the time runs out. Add this to the Puts graphic in the
middle of the screen
“Helvetica” is a good
font for big letters
very bottom of your program.

c.create_text(MID_X, MID_Y, \
text=‘GAME OVER’, fill=‘white’, font=(‘Helvetica’,30))
Tells you what your
c.create_text(MID_X, MID_Y + 30, \ score was
text=‘Score: ’+ str(score), fill=‘white’) Sets the text color
to white
c.create_text(MID_X, MID_Y + 45, \
text=‘Bonus time: ’+ str(bonus*TIME_LIMIT), fill=‘white’)

Shows how much bonus

time was earned

Don’t forget to
save your work
174 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

BUBBLE BLASTER
Time to play
Well done! You’ve finished writing Bubble
blaster and it’s now ready to play. Run the The timer counts The player scores
program and try it out. If something isn’t down to the end points for
working, remember the debugging tips— of the game popping bubbles
with the sub
look back carefully over the code on the
previous pages to make sure everything
is typed out correctly. IDLE File Edit Shell Debug Window
Bubble Blaster
Up arrow key
Left
TIME SCORE
arrow key Down arrow key 13 241
Right
arrow key

△ Controls
The submarine is steered using the arrow
keys. The program can be adjusted so it
works with other controls.

EXPERT TIPS
Improving your game
All computer games start as a basic idea. They
are then played, tested, adjusted, and improved.
Think of this as version one of your game. Here
are some suggestions of how you could change
and improve it with new code:

Make the game harder by adjusting the time limit

and the score required for bonus time.
Choose a different color for your submarine.
Create a more detailed submarine graphic.
Have a special type of bubble that increases the
speed of the submarine.
Add a smart bomb that deletes all of the bubbles
when you press the spacebar.
Build a leaderboard to keep track of the
best scores.
 BUBBLE BLASTER 175

The bubbles float New bubbles drift in

from right to left and from the right at
disappear off the screen random intervals

Help

Players uses this

submarine to pop as
many bubbles as they
can before time runs out

The bubbles are all

different sizes and move
at different speeds

◁ Super submarine
Now you can share this
game with your friends.
Take turns to see who can
score the most points.
Afterwards, show them
the code behind it and
explain how it all works.
176 P L AY I N G W I T H P Y T H O N

What next? SEE ALSO

 152–153 Libraries
Now that you’ve tackled the Python projects in this book, Computer 204–205
games

you’re on your way to becoming a great programmer.
Here are some ideas for what to do next in Python,
and how to take your programming skills further.

Experiment REMEMBER
Play around with the code samples Read lots of code
in this book. Find new ways to remix
them or add new features—and Find interesting programs or
don’t be afraid to break them too! libraries written by other people
and read through the code and
This is your chance to experiment their comments. Try to understand
with Python. Remember that it how the code works, and why it is
is a professional programming built that way. This increases your
language with a lot of power—you knowledge of coding practices.
can do all sorts of things with it. You will also learn useful bits of
information about libraries that
you can use in future programs.
Build your own libraries
Programmers love to reuse code and share their
work. Create your own library of useful functions and
share it. It’s a great feeling to see your code being
used by another programmer. You might build
something as useful as Tkinter or Turtle!
 W H AT N E X T ? 177
Make games EXPERT TIPS
with Python Different versions of Python
You could create your own game When you find code elsewhere (in other books or online), it
using Python. The PyGame may be written for a different version of Python. The versions
library, which is available to are similar, but you might need to make small changes.
download from the web, comes
Python 2
with lots of functions and tools print ‘Hello World’
that make it easier to build
games. Start by making simple Python 3
games, then progress to more print(‘Hello World’)
complex ones.

Score 56
22

Debug your code

Debugging is an important part of programming. Don’t just
give up if something isn’t working. Remember that computers
will only do what you tell them, so look through the code and
figure out why it’s not working. Sometimes looking over it
with another programmer helps you find bugs quicker.
 Inside
computers
180 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Inside a computer SEE ALSO

Storing data 192–193
in files

The earliest computers were simple calculators. At a
basic level, computers haven’t changed much since
The Internet 194–195 
then. They take in data (input), perform calculations,
Mini 214–215
computers

and give out answers (output).

Basic elements
A computer consists of four main The memory contains
parts: input, memory, processor, and information in sections, Memory
like books on library
output. Input devices gather data, shelves. Memory is used
similar to the way your eyes or ears to store programs and
the data they use
collect information about the world
around you. Memory stores the data,
while processors examine and alter it,
just like a human brain. Output devices
show the results of the processor’s The control unit
retrieves programs
calculations, like a person speaking or from the memory in
moving after deciding what to do. order to run them

▷ Von Neumann architecture

A scientist called John von Neumann first
came up with the standard layout for a
computer in 1945. His plan is still followed The control unit Processor
today, with some improvements. loads and carries
out instructions
from programs
Input Control unit
Language and information
can be input through
the keyboard

Keyboard

Icons and menus can be

Mouse selected using the mouse
 INSIDE A COMPUTER 181
Screen The network adapter,
Computer hardware is used for contacting
Hardware is the physical parts of other computers
The motherboard
a computer. Computers contain connects pieces of
Graphics processor
many different bits of hardware hardware together
The battery
working together. As computer supplies power
makers pack more and more Processor
features into smaller machines,
the hardware components have Data storage The chipset controls
to be smaller, generate less heat, communication
and use less power. Inside a laptop between components

LINGO
GIGO
“Garbage in, garbage out” (“GIGO”
for short) is a computing phrase
The arithmetic logic
unit retrieves data for meaning that even the best
its calculations from programs will output nonsense
the memory if they receive the wrong input.

The processor is made up of

two parts, one to carry out
instructions and the other
to perform calculations

The arithmetic logic unit

(ALU) performs any calculations
the program needs

Arithmetic logic unit Output

Printers output
data onto paper Speakers turn
2+3=5 data into sounds

5>3=?

Printer

Screens provide
Screen Speaker
visual output
182 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Binary and bases SEE ALSO

Symbols 184–185
and codes

How can computers solve complex calculations when all
they understand is electrical signals? Binary numbers
Logic gates 186–187 
are used to translate these signals into numbers.

What is a base number? Each extra digit is worth

10 times the one before
A “base” is the number of values
that can be shown using only one x10 x10 x10
digit. Each extra digit increases
the number of values that can be
shown by a multiple of the base. 1000 100 10 1 The number
3274 is made
▷ Decimal system up of four digits
The decimal system is the most
familiar counting system, and has
a base of 10. It can show 10 values
3 2 7 4
with one digit, 100 values with two
digits, and 1,000 with three digits.
3x1,000 + 2x100 + 7x10 + 4x1 = 3,274
Binary code A wire with
a current
At the most basic level, computers only understand
two values: electrical signals that are “on” and “off”.
▷ 1 and 0
1
Because there are only two values, computers deal with A wire with ON
numbers using a base of two, or “binary”. Each digit is electrical signal
either a 1 or a 0, and each extra digit in the number “on” is a 1. A wire
is worth two times the previous digit. with electrical
Each extra digit is signal “off” is a 0. 0
worth twice as much
OFF
x2 x2 x2 x2 x2 x2 x2
◁ Binary
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 The range of
values that
can be written
doubles with
each digit added.
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
1x128 + 1x64 + 1x32 + 1x16 + 0x8 + 0x4 + 0x2 + 1x1 = 241
 BINARY AND BASES 183
▽ Understanding nibbles
Hexadecimal A “nibble” is made up of four binary
When using numbers in computer programs, a base of 16 digits, which can be represented by
is often used because it’s easy to translate from binary. one hexadecimal digit.
Because there are only 10 symbols for numbers (0–9), the
The number 241
values for 10–16 are represented by the letters A–F. in binary code

1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Binary numbers can be

1111 broken down into nibbles

made up of four digits 0001 The number in
hexadecimal

1111 in binary is
15, which is F in
hexadecimal
F 0001 in binary is 1, which
is 1 in hexadecimal
1 The number
241=F1
in decimal
▽ Comparing base systems
REMEMBER
Using this table, you can see that expressing
numbers in hexadecimal gives the most Bits, nibbles, and bytes
information with the fewest digits.
A binary digit is known as a “bit”, and is the
DIFFERENT BASES smallest unit of memory in computing. Bits
Decimal Binary Hexadecimal are combined to make “nibbles” and “bytes”. A
kilobit is 1,024 bits. A megabit is 1,024 kilobits.
0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 1 1
2 0 0 1 0 2 Bits: Each bit is a single
binary digit—a 1 or 0.
3 0 0 1 1 3
4 0 1 0 0 4 1
5 0 1 0 1 5
6 0 1 1 0 6 Nibbles: Four bits make up
a nibble—enough for one
7 0 1 1 1 7 hexadecimal digit.
8 1 0 0 0 8
1001
9 1 0 0 1 9
10 1 0 1 0 A
Bytes: Eight bits, or two
11 1 0 1 1 B hexadecimal digits, make up a
12 1 1 0 0 C byte. This gives us a range of
13 1 1 0 1 D values from 0 to 255 (00 to FF).
14 1 1 1 0 E
10110010
15 1 1 1 1 F
184 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Symbols and codes SEE ALSO

 180–181 Inside
a computer
Computers use binary code to translate numbers into
electrical signals. But how would a computer use binary
182–183 Binary
and bases
code to store the words and characters on this page?
ASCII
The first computers each stored characters in their own ASCII
unique way. This worked fine until data needed to be 32 SPACE 64 @ 96 `
moved between computers. At this point, a common 33 ! 65 A 97 a
system was chosen, called the American Standard Code 34 “ 66 B 98 b
for Information Interchange (ASCII, pronounced “askey”). 35 # 67 C 99 c
36 $ 68 D 100 d
▷ ASCII table 37 % 69 E 101 e
In ASCII, a decimal number value is 38 & 70 F 102 f
given to each character in the upper- 39 ‘ 71 G 103 g
and lower case alphabets. Numbers are 40 ( 72 H 104 h
also assigned to punctuation and other
41 ) 73 I 105 i
characters, such as a space.
42 * 74 J 106 j
43 + 75 K 107 k
44 , 76 L 108 l
▷ ASCII in binary
Because each character has a R = 82 = 1010010 45 - 77 M 109 m
number, that number then needs 46 . 78 N 110 n
to be converted to binary to be
stored in a computer. r = 114 = 1110010 47
48
/
0
79
80
O
P
111
112
o
p
49 1 81 Q 113 q
50 2 82 R 114 r
▽ ASCII in Python This command prints
the character, the ASCII 51 3 83 S 115 s
You can convert between
ASCII and binary code in most value, and the binary 52 4 84 T 116 t
value for each letter in 53 5 85 U 117 u
languages, including Python.
the name “Sam”
54 6 86 V 118 v
>>> name = ‘Sam’ 55 7 87 W 119 w
>>> for c in name: 56 8 88 X 120 x
57 9 89 Y 121 y
print(c, ord(c), bin(ord(c)))
58 : 90 Z 122 z
59 ; 91 [ 123 {
S 83 0b1010011 60 < 92 \ 124 |
Here are the results. The 61 = 93 ] 125 }
a 97 0b1100001 beginning of each binary
number is marked “0b” 62 > 94 ^ 126 ~
m 109 0b1101101 63 ? 95 _ 127 DELETE
 SYMBOLS AND CODES 185
Unicode
As computers across the world began to share data, the
limits of ASCII began to show. Thousands of characters
used in hundreds of languages had to be represented,
so a universal standard called Unicode was agreed on.

Unicode has over ▷ International code

110,000 characters!
Unicode represents all the
languages of the world. For
example, the Arabic characters are
represented in the range 0600–06FF.

▷ Unicode characters
Unicode characters are
represented by their
hexadecimal value, which
appears as a series of
letters and numbers
(see pp.182–183). Each 2602 2EC6 08A2 0036
character has its own code.
More characters are added
all the time, and there are
some unusual ones, such
as a mini umbrella.

0974 004D 2702 A147

REMEMBER
▽ Unicode in Python
Hexadecimals Unicode can be used to display special characters
in Python. Simply type a string containing a Unicode
Hexadecimal numbers have a base of 16.
character code.
Ordinary decimal numbers are used for 0 to 9,
Putting “\u” before the
and the values 10–15 are represented by the hexadecimal code tells the
letters A to F. Each hexadecimal number has an computer this is Unicode
equivalent binary value.
The Unicode value The same value >>> ‘Zo\u00EB’
of ë as hexadecimal as binary
‘Zoë’

ë = 00EB = 11100111 The code is translated

into the character “ë”
186 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Logic gates SEE ALSO

 180–181 Inside
a computer
Computers use electrical signals not only to understand
numbers and letters but also to make decisions using
182–183 Binary
and bases
devices called “logic gates”. There are four main types of
logic gates: “AND”, “NOT”, “OR”, and “EXCLUSIVE OR”.

AND gate
Gates use one or more input signals to produce an output signal,
based on a simple rule. AND gates switch their output signal “on” (1)
only when both input signals are “on” (1 and 1).

1 1 0

1 0 0

1 0 0

△ Inputs 1 and 1 = output 1 △ Inputs 1 and 0 = output 0 △ Inputs 0 and 0 = output 0

Both input signals are “on”, If one input is “on” but the An AND gate produces
so the AND gate produces an other is “off”, the output an “off” output signal if both
“on” output signal. signal is “off”. input signals are “off”.

REAL WORLD
NOT gate
These gates “flip” any input
George Boole (1815–64)
to its opposite. “On” input George Boole was an English
becomes “off” output, and mathematician whose work made
“off” input turns to “on” logic gates possible. He worked
output. NOT gates are also out a system to solve logic
problems. This kind of math,
known as “inverters”. 1 0 which deals in values that can
only be true or false (positive or
△ Input 1 = output 0
negative), is known as “Boolean
logic” in his honor.
The NOT gate flips an “on” input to
an “off” output, and vice versa.
 L O G I C G AT E S 187
OR gate
An OR gate produces an “on” output when either one
of the inputs is “on”, or when both are “on”.

1 1 0
1 1 0
1 0 0

△ Inputs 1 and 1 = output 1 △ Inputs 1 and 0 = output 1 △ Inputs 0 and 0 = output 0

Two “on” inputs produce One “on” and one “off” input still Only two “off” inputs produce an
an “on” output. produce an “on” output. “off” output from an OR gate.

EXCLUSIVE OR gate
This type of gate only gives 1 1
an “on” output when one
input is “on” and the other is
“off”. Two “on” or two “off”
0 1
inputs will produce an “off”
output. Gates like this are also 1 0
known as “XOR” gates.
△ Inputs 1 and 1 = output 0 △ Inputs 1 and 0 = output 1
Two “on” inputs produce The output is only “on” when
an “off” output. the inputs are different.

EXPERT TIPS
Building computer circuits
By combining these four basic with two NOT gates in a loop,
logic gates, you can create circuits you can create a circuit that
to perform a whole range of will store a bit of data (a single
advanced functions. For example, 1 or 0). Even the most powerful
by linking an AND gate to an XOR computers are based on
gate, you create a circuit that can billions of tiny logic circuits.
add two binary digits (bits)
Computer chips contain
together. By linking two OR gates many logic circuits
188 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Processors and memory SEE ALSO

 180–181 Inside
a computer
Inside a computer are many types of electronic chips.
Most importantly, the processor chip runs programs
186–187 Logic
gates
and memory chips store data for instant access.

The processor
Processors are a collection of very small and complex circuits, printed on
a glasslike material called silicon. Small switches called transistors are
combined to form simple logic gates, which are further combined to form
complex circuits. These circuits run all the programs on your computer.

◁ Circuits in
a processor
The circuits are kept
synchronized by a
clock pulse, just like
an orchestra is kept in
time by a conductor.

Machine code
Save to
Processors only understand a set of memory
program instructions called “machine
code”. These simple instructions for
operations like adding, subtracting,
and storing data are combined to
create complex programs. Call another
piece of code

▷ Understanding machine code Compare

two values
Machine code is just numbers, so coders
use programming languages like Python
that get converted into machine code.
 PROCESSORS AND MEMORY 189
Memory LINGO
Like processors, memory chips are printed on silicon. A few RAM
logic gates are combined to create a “latch circuit”. Each
latch stores one bit (the smallest unit of data with a binary Memory is often referred to as
RAM (“Random Access Memory”),
value of either 1 or 0), and many latches are combined to
meaning any part of it can be
create megabytes and gigabytes of storage. accessed directly. Early types
of storage could only access data
in order from start to end, which
Memory is made up was much slower.
of repeated identical
blocks of circuit

Every item of data has a

number (called an “address”)
so it can be found quickly

◁ Programs and data

Each block of memory can Programs constantly read,
store millions or billions of write, and update the data
bits of data stored in the memory.

REMEMBER
Processing information
The processor and memory, when
combined with input and output MEMORY
devices, give you everything you Contains the
need for a computer. In a game position of the A game program
character running
program, for example, the user
inputs position data by clicking the The character
mouse, the processor does the Mouse click jumps on screen
calculations, reads and writes
memory, and then produces output
in the form of making the character
INPUT PROCESSOR OUTPUT
jump on the screen.
190 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Essential programs SEE ALSO

 180–181 Inside
a computer
There are a few programs that every computer
needs in order to work. Some of the most important
182–183 Binary
and bases
programs are operating systems, compilers, 188–189 Processors
and memory
and interpreters.

Operating system
The operating system (OS) is the
This program has run
manager of the computer’s and is now waiting Each program has its
resources. It controls which for its next slice of own space in the
programs are allowed to run, how processor time computer’s memory

long they run for, and which parts

of the computer they use while
running. The OS also provides
interfaces, such as file browsers,
to let a user interact with the
computer. Common operating
systems include Microsoft
Windows and Mac OS X. Program
Memory
1

off
Programs run in turn

The operating system is

like an octopus, with
tentacles connecting to
all parts of the computer
Program Memory
2
The operating system
manages the
processor’s time
on

Program
▷ How it works Memory
3
The processor’s time is
divided up into slices. A
program will be given a off
slice. If it can’t finish in
that time, it is paused and This program is
the next program runs. waiting to run
 ESSENTIAL PROGRAMS 191
input data
Compilers and Compiler
interpreters output output
Program Run program
The languages you write Program Run compiler in machine in machine
programs with, such as code code

Python, are known as “high- △ Compiler

level languages”. Computer Compilers produce translated output data
processors don’t understand machine code that can be saved
these languages, so compilers and run later. input data
and interpreters are used to Interpreter
translate them into a low- ▷ Interpreter input
level language (known as Interpreters translate the Interpreter
Program
“machine code”) that a code and execute the runs program
computer does understand. program at the same time.

output data

Links to monitor

Links to keyboard

Links to speaker

Links to mouse

Links to printer

Links to network

The OS acts as a bridge

Links to storage between the programs
you want to run and the
computer’s hardware
192 INSIDE COMPUTERS

Storing data in files SEE ALSO

182–183 Binary
and bases
A computer’s memory doesn’t just store numbers and
characters. Many more types of data can be stored,
188–189 Processors
and memory
including music, pictures, and videos. But how is this 190–191 Essential
programs
data stored? And how can it be found again?

How is data stored? The computer’s file

system is similar to a
When data is saved to be used later, it is put into a paper filing system
file. This file can be given a name that will make it easy
to find again. Files can be stored on a hard-drive,
memory stick, or even online—so data is safe even
when a computer is switched off.

EXPERT TIPS
▽ File information
File sizes There is more to a file than just its
contents. File properties tell the system
Files are essentially collections of
everything it needs to know about a file. Right-click on a file to see
data in the form of binary digits properties such as file
(bits). File sizes are measured in type, location, and size
the following units:
FILE PROPERTIES
The file name
Bytes (B) should be
1 B = 8 bits (for example, 10011001) memorable name groove

What type of file

Kilobytes (KB) it is, typically in
three characters file type
1 KB = 1,024 B extension
mp3
The program
Megabytes (MB) that can handle
the file’s data
1 MB = 1,024 KB = 1,048,576 B opens with Music Player

The location of
Gigabytes (GB) the file on the
computer full directory
1 GB = 1,024 MB = 1,073,741,824 B /Users/Jack/Music
path
The file size
Terabytes (TB) (see the box on
the left) size 50 MB
1 TB = 1,024 GB = 1,099,511,627,776 B
 S T O R I N G D ATA I N F I L E S 193
Directories EXPERT TIPS
It’s easier to find files on a computer system if they are Managing files
well organized. To help with this, files can be grouped
together in “directories”, also known as “folders”. It’s A file manager program helps find files
and directories. Each operating system
often useful for directories to contain other directories has a different one:
in the form of a directory tree.
Windows: Use Windows Explorer to
▽ Directory tree look around the directory tree.
When directories are placed inside other Apple: Use Finder to look around the
directories, it creates a structure that resembles directory tree.
an upside-down tree, and just like a tree it has Ubuntu: Use Nautilus to look around
roots and branches (confusingly called “paths”). the directory tree.

The “root” of the

directory tree, where
you start looking for files

This “path”
This “path”
contains Sara’s
contains Jack’s
user data
user data

Jack’s Sara’s
folder folder

Mpegs are a type

of video file

Music Photos

story.txt film.mpg

PNGs and JPEGs

Text file are two types
of image file
Music files can
have different
file extensions

groove.mp3 funk.wav sunnyday.png island.jpg

194 INSIDE COMPUTERS

The Internet SEE ALSO

182–183 Binary
and bases
The Internet is a network of computers all across the
world. With so many computers, clever systems are
 192–193 Storing data
in files
needed to make sure information goes to the right place.

IP addresses
Every computer or phone connected to the Internet has an address,
much like a building. The addresses are called “Internet Protocol (IP)
Packets are put
addresses” and each one is made up of a series of numbers. back together in
the right order

▽ Sending information
Receiving computer
Files travel between computers in accepts packets
small chunks called packets. Special
computers called routers forward
these packets to their destination.

Sending
computer
transmits data

Packets hop from

router to router
around the globe

File is broken down EXPERT TIPS

into small chunks of
data called packets Internet protocol
A protocol is a list of rules.
to... “Internet Protocols” are rules for
10.150.93 ◁ Address information how big packets can be and how
.2 2 Every packet of data they are structured. All Internet
from... is labeled with the devices must follow these rules
62.769.20 destination and sender’s IP if they want to be able to
.5 7 addresses. Domain names communicate with each other.
like “dk.com” are translated
into IP addresses.
 THE INTERNET 195
Moving data
Before packets can be sent
between devices, they have to
be translated into binary signals
(ones and zeroes) that can travel
over great distances. Every device
△ Electrical signals △ Light △ Radio waves
on the Internet has a “network
Copper wires carry Special glass fibres, Different types
adapter” to perform this task. ones and zeroes as called fibre optic of radio waves can
Different devices send data in electrical signals of cables, transmit data carry ones and zeroes
different forms. different strengths. as pulses of light. without using wires.

▽ Port numbers
Ports The numbers used for ports range
Just as you mail a letter to a from 0 to 65535 and are divided A device’s IP address
is like the street
specific person in an apartment into three types: well-known, address of a building
building, you may want to registered, and private.
send packets to a specific
program on a device. Computers
use numbers called “ports” IP 165.193.128.72
as addresses for individual
programs. Some common
A port within
programs have ports specially a device is
reserved for them. For example, 1 2 3 4 like an
web browsers always receive apartment in
a building
packets through port number 80.

5 7 8 Routers
deliver
6

packets like
EXPERT TIPS mailmen to
the correct
Sockets 9 10 11 addresses

The combination of an IP address

12

and a port is known as a “socket”.

Sockets let programs send data
directly to each other across the 13 14 15 16
Internet, which is
useful for things
such as playing
online games. 17 18 19 20
Programming in
the real world
198 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Computer languages SEE ALSO

Computer 204–205
games

Thousands of different programming languages have
been created. Which one you should use depends on a
Making 206–207
apps

number of factors, such as the type of program being
written and which kind of computer it will run on.
#include <stdio.h>
main()
Popular programming languages {
printf(“Hello World!”);
Some languages have emerged as the most popular for }
creating certain types of program on certain types of
computer. Here is how to run a simple “Hello World!”
program in a few popular programming languages.
△C
One of the most popular
languages of all time, C is often
#include <iostream> used for programming hardware.
int main()
{
std::cout << “Hello World!” << std::endl; #import <stdio.h>
} int main(void)
{
printf(“Hello World!”);
}

△ C++
alert(‘Hello World!’);
Based on C, but with extra
features. Used in programs
that need to be fast, such
as console games.
△ Objective-C
Based on C, with some extra △ JavaScript
features. It has become popular Used to create
because of its use on Apple’s programs that run on
class HelloWorldApp { Mac and iOS devices. web browsers, such
public static void main(String[] args) {
as simple games and
System.out.println(“Hello World!”);
} email websites.
} <?php
echo “Hello World!”;
?>

△ Java ◁ PHP
A very versatile language that Mostly used for creating
can run on most computers. interactive websites, PHP
It’s often used for coding on runs on the web servers
the Android operating system. that host websites.
 COMPUTER LANGUAGES 199
Languages from the past REAL WORLD
Many languages that were famous twenty or thirty years Millennium bug
ago have fallen in popularity, despite still being used in
some very important systems. These languages are often Many programs in older languages
like COBOL used two digits to
seen as difficult to code by modern standards.
represent a year (such as 99 for
1999). The “millennium bug” was
Designed in 1964 at Dartmouth College, in the
BASIC US, BASIC was very popular when home
predicted to cause problems in
2000 when these dates rolled over
computers first became available.
into the new millennium as 00.

Computers all over

Designed in 1954 at IBM, a technology firm, Fortran the world had to be
Fortran is mainly used for calculations on large computers. updated to prevent
the millennium bug
It is still being used in weather forecasting.

Designed in 1959 by a committee of experts,

COBOL COBOL is still being used in many business and
banking programs.

Weird languages (‘&%:9]!~}|z2Vxwv-,POqponl$Hjig%eB@@>a=<M:9[p6tsl1TS/

Among the thousands of languages are QlOj)L(I&%$””Z~AA@UZ=RvttT`R5P3m0LEDh,T*?(b&`$#87[}{W
a few that have been created for very
△ Malbolge
specific and strange purposes.
The Malbolge language was designed to be impossible to
program. The first working code did not emerge until two
years after its release, and was written by another program.

△ Ook!
△ Chef Designed to be used by
A program written in Chef is orangutans, Ook! has only three
△ Piet meant to resemble a cooking elements: “Ook”, “Ook!”, and
Programs created in Piet code look recipe. However, in practice, “Ook?” These can be combined
like abstract art. The “Hello World!” the programs rarely produce to create six commands, such
program is shown above. useful cooking instructions. as “Ook! Ook” and “Ook? Ook!”
200 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Coding stars SEE ALSO

 18–19 Becoming
a coder
Computing is driven forward every day by millions of
programmers all around the world, but every now and
Computer 204–205
games

then someone special comes along and takes a massive
leap. Here are a few of the most famous coders.

A l a n Tu r i n g
A d a L o v e la ce Nationality
: British
sh
Nationalit y: Briti Dates: 191
2–54

Dates: 1815–52 Famous for:

Mathemati
Alan Turin cian
g is known
Lovelace is as the
Famous for: Ada father of c
omputer sc
to be the first He’s also fa ience.
considered mo
computer prog ra m mer. ground-bre us for his
ak
In 1843, she pu
blished the cracking se ing work
cret
r Charles
first program fo German co
des during
ytical World War
Babbage’s Anal II for
ed early
Engine (a propos the British
.
e al so
computer). Sh
et ho ds for
suggested m
g ch ar acters
representin
as numbe rs.
Bil l Ga tes an d Pa ul All en
Gra ce Ho ppe r Nationality: American

3–present
Nationalit y: American Dates: Gates 1955–present, Allen 195

Dates: 1906–92 Famous for: Bill

Gates and Paul
Famous for: Grace Hopper created Allen founded
the first programming language Microsoft together
compiler (which transforms human in the 1970s. They
readable programs into machine invented some of
code). As well as being a the most popular
computer scientist programs ever, such as
she was a Rear Microsoft Windows
Admiral in the and Office.
US Navy!
 CO D I N G S TA R S 201

Gu np ei Yo ko i an d Sh ig er u M iy am Ti m B e rn e rs -L e e
ot o
Nationalit y: Japanese Nationalit y: British

nt
Dates: Yokoi 1941–97, Miy
amoto 1952–present Dates: 1955–prese

working at
Famous for: Yokoi and Famous for: While
s sc ientific
Miyamoto worked for CERN (a famou
er in Switzerland),
Nintendo, the gaming research cent
vented
company. Yokoi Tim Berners-Lee in
invented the Game ld W id e W eb ,
the Wor
Boy, while Miyamoto ad e it fre e fo r
and m
made successful games ever yone. He was
n
such as Super Mario. knighted by Quee
04 .
Elizabeth II in 20

S e r g e i B r in Ma rk Zu ck erb erg
L arr y Page and
Nationality: American
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Dates: 1984–present
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Dates: Both 19

1996, Famous for: Zuckerberg

Famous for: In launched Facebook from his
B ri n began
Page and college room in 2004.
w h at would
work on Facebook has since become
Google
become the a billion-dollar company, and
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search engin made Zuckerberg one of the
r ef fe ct iv e
Thei wealthiest people alive.
ch m et h o d
sear
revolutioniz ed
the Internet.

Op en So ur ce M ov em en t
Nationality: All

t
Dates: Late 1970s–presen
tion of
rce movement is a collec
Famous for: The open sou tw are should
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202 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Busy programs SEE ALSO

180–181 Inside
a computer
Computers and programs have become an invisible
part of daily life. Every day, people benefit from very

192–193 Storing
data in files
complex computer programs that have been written
to solve incredibly tough problems.

Compressing files REAL WORLD

Almost every type of file that is sent over the Internet Music files
is compressed (squeezed) in some way. When a file is
compressed, data that isn’t needed is identified and Without music compression
programs, you could only fit a
thrown away, leaving only the useful information.
few songs on your music player.
By compressing audio files, the
average smartphone can now
hold thousands of songs.
◁ Squeezing data
Compressing a file is
like squeezing a
jack-in-the-box to
make it fit into a
smaller space.

Secret codes
When you log in to a website,
buy something, or send a
message across the Internet,
smart programs scramble your
secret data so that anyone who
intercepts it won’t be able to ◁ Cryptography
understand it. Global banking Cryptography is the
systems rely on these advanced study of codes. Complex
mathematical codes
programs capable of hiding
scramble and unscramble
secret information. personal data to keep it
safe from thieves.
 BUSY PROGRAMS 203
Artificial Intelligence
Intelligent programs do more
than just make computer games
fun. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
is being used to provide better
healthcare, as well as helping
robots operate in places too
△ Medicine △ Bomb disposal
dangerous for humans to go,
Systems are able to analyze a Many soldiers’ lives can be
such as war zones and areas huge database of medical saved by using an intelligent
destroyed by natural disasters. information and combine it robot to safely dispose of a
with details from the patient bomb in an area that has been
to suggest a diagnosis. cleared of people.

Supercomputers REAL WORLD

Supercomputers—used by high-tech organizations such Weather forecast
as NASA—combine the power of thousands of computer
processors that share data and communicate quickly. The Weather patterns are very
result is a computer that can perform millions of unpredictable. Supercomputers
crunch the huge amounts of data
calculations per second. needed to accurately predict what
3 Each processor works on will happen. Each processor in the
one of the smaller problems supercomputer calculates the
2 Computer
breaks problem 4 Each sub-problem is weather for a small part of the map.
into smaller, solved separately All the results are then combined
sub-problems to produce the whole forecast.
5 Computer
puts results
back together

1 Complex problem
is entered into 6 Final result appears
supercomputer much faster

△ How it works
Problems are broken into smaller problems that are all worked
on separately at the same time by different processors. The
results are then combined together to give the answer.
204 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Computer games SEE ALSO

 200–201 Coding
stars
What does it take to make a modern video game?
All computer games are a different mix of the same
Making 206–207
apps

ingredients. Great games are usually made by teams
of software developers—not just programmers.

Who makes computer games?

Even simple games on your mobile phone might be made by large
teams of people. For a game to be popular and successful, attention
to detail needs to be given to every area during its development,
which involves many people with lots of different skills.

△ Graphic designer
All of the levels and
◁ Level designer characters need to
The architects of the game’s look good. The graphic
virtual world, level designers designers define the
△ Coder create settings and levels structure and appearance
Programmers write the that are fun to play. of everything in the game.
code that will make the
game work, but they can
only do this with input
from the rest of the team. LINGO

▷ Tester Consoles
Playing games all
day may seem like a A console is a special type of
great job, but testers computer that is well suited to
often play the same running games. Consoles, such as
level over and over the PS4 and Xbox One, often have
again to check for bugs. advanced graphics and sound
processors capable of running
many things at once, making
△ Scriptwriter more realistic games possible.
Modern games have
interesting plots just like
great books and films. ◁ Sound designer
Scriptwriters develop Just like a good movie,
all the characters and a great game needs
stories for the game. to have quality music
and sound effects to
set the mood.
 COMPUTER GAMES 205
Game ingredients
The most common ingredients in games are often combined
into a “game engine”. Engines provide an easy-to-use base so
that new games can be developed quickly.

▷ Story and game logic

All games must have a good
story and some sort of goal
to aim for, such as saving the
princess. Well-designed game
logic keeps players interested.

◁ Game physics
In a virtual world, the rules of the
real world, such as gravity and
collisions, must be re-created to
make the game more believable.
△ Graphics
As games become more realistic their
graphics must become more complex.
Body movements, smoke, and water are
▷ Controls particularly hard to get right.
Familiar controls that make sense to
the player help make a great game.
Good control design makes the player
forget that they are using a controller. ▷ Sound
All of the words spoken in the
game must be recorded, as well
as the background music and
the sound effects that change
Open the pod bay
doors, Hal throughout the game.
I’m sorry Dave, I’m
afraid I can’t do that REAL WORLD
Serious games
Games are being used for
more than just fun. Pilots,
surgeons, and soldiers are just
some of the professionals
who use games at work for
△ Artificial intelligence training purposes. Some
Human players often play alongside or businesses even use strategy
against computer-controlled players. games to improve their
Artificial intelligence programming allows employees’ planning skills.
these characters to respond realistically.
206 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Making apps SEE ALSO

190–191 Essential
programs
Mobile phones have opened up a world of possibilities
for coders. With a computer in everyone’s pocket, mobile
 198–199 Computer
languages
apps can use new inputs, such as location-finding and 204–205 Computer
games
motion-sensing, to give users a better experience.

What is an app?
“App” (short for “application”) is a word that describes
◁ Social network
programs that run on mobile devices, including
Social apps can allow
smartphones, tablets, and even wearable technology people to connect with
such as watches. There are many different categories friends, whether they are
of apps that do different things. nearby or far away, to
share thoughts, pictures,
◁ Games music, and videos.
All sorts of games are available on mobile
devices, from simple puzzle games to
fast-paced action adventures.

△ Travel
Travel apps use your location
combined with other users’ reviews
to provide recommendations for
restaurants, hotels, and activities.

△ Weather
Mobile apps use your location to
provide accurate weather forecasts,
and also allow you to check the
weather around the world.

◁ Sport △ Education
People use apps to track their fitness Educational apps are great for
when running or cycling, and can also learning. Young children can learn
keep up to date on the latest sports to count and spell, and older
scores while on the go. people can learn a new language.
 MAKING APPS 207
How to build an app
There are many questions to answer before
building an app. What will it do? What devices will
it run on? How will the user interact with it? Once
these questions are answered, building an app
is a step-by-step process.

Mac Have an idea

1 Any idea for a new app must be well suited to
mobile devices. It might be a completely new idea,
Android or it could just be an improvement on an already
existing idea to make a better version.
Windows
Which operating system?
2 Will the app target a certain type of
Learn to make apps
mobile device? Coders can often use tools that
let them write their application once and then
3 Whichever platform the app will run on,
adapt it for different operating systems. a coder needs to learn the language and other
skills needed to build a good app. Online
tutorials and local coding clubs can help.

Create the program

4 Good apps take time to make. A basic Test it
version might be working in weeks, but for an 5 Users will quickly get rid of an app if it contains
app to be really successful, it will need to be bugs. Putting in tests as part of the code, and getting
developed for a few months before its release. friends and family to try out the app can help clean
up any errors before the app is released.
208 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Programming SEE ALSO

 198–199 Computer
languages

for the Internet Using 210–211

JavaScript

Websites are built using coding languages that work
just like Python. One of the most important of these
is JavaScript, which makes websites interactive.

How a web page works

Most web pages are built using several ◁ CSS
different languages. An email website, for The language CSS
(Cascading Style
instance, is made with CSS, HTML, and
JavaScript. The JavaScript code makes the
CSS Sheets) controls the
colors, fonts, and
site respond instantly to mouse clicks layout of the page.
without having to reload the page.

INBOX CONTACTS CALENDAR

Compose ▼ Delete + Move

Inbox ▢ Sam Funny cat video

Drafts ▢ Lizzie Presents for Ben
Sent ▢ Fiona Lunch?
Spam ▢ Shaila No thanks
Trash ▢ Paula Come to my party?
▢ Dan Re: Barnyard dance
▢ Ben Re: Amazing picture
JavaScript
▢ Sarah Hockey match
▢ Vicky Re: New York
▢ Ella Book review
▢ Phil Ben’s presents

◁ HTML ▷ JavaScript
HTML HTML (HyperText Markup JavaScript controls how the
Language) builds the basic page changes when you use
structure of the page, with it. Click on an email, for
different sections that instance, and JavaScript
contain text or images. makes a message open up.
 PROGRAMMING FOR THE INTERNET 209
HTML <html>
Blocks of text are surrounded by “tags”, a
very common feature in HTML code. This
When you open a website, your <head> tag gives the window a title
Internet browser downloads an
<title>The Hello World Window</title>
HTML file and runs the code to turn
it into a web page. To see how it </head>
works, type the code here into an <body>
IDLE code window (see pp.92–93) <h1>Hello World in HTML</h1>
and save it as a file with the ending
<p>Hello World!</p>
“.html”. Double click the file and it The “<p>” and “</p>”
</body> tags surround
will launch a browser window ordinary paragraphs
saying “Hello World!” </html> This tag shows where
the HTML code ends

Trying JavaScript EXPERT TIPS

It’s easy to experiment with JavaScript Games in JavaScript
because all modern web browsers can
understand it. JavaScript code is usually placed JavaScript is so good at
creating interactive features
within HTML code, so the example below uses
that it can be used to make
two coding languages at once. The JavaScript games—from simple
section is surrounded by “<script>” tags. puzzles to fast-paced racing
games. These will work in
Write some JavaScript any modern web browser, so
1 Open a new IDLE code window and type out there’s no need to install
the code below. Check the code very carefully. If the game first. JavaScript
there are any errors, you’ll just see a blank page. is also used to create web
apps such as webmail or
The “<script>” tag interactive calendars.
<script> introduces JavaScript code
alert(“Hello World!”);
</script> The “alert” command will
make an alert box pop up

Save your file Pop-up appears

2 Save the file and enter a filename such as “test.html” 3 The browser will open and an interactive alert box
so the code is saved as an HTML file and not a Python file. will pop up with the greeting “Hello World!” Click “OK” to
Then double click the file to test it. dismiss the box.
JavaScript
creates

test.html JavaScript
interactive
features such
as buttons
Hello World!
Don’t forget to give your OK
filename an “.html” ending
210 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Using JavaScript SEE ALSO

 162–163 Reacting
to events
JavaScript is great for creating mini programs that run
inside HTML, bringing websites to life and allowing users
 122–123 Loops
in Python
to interact with them. Although it works like Python,  208–209 Programming
for the Internet
JavaScript code is more concise and trickier to learn.

Getting input
As with Python, you can use JavaScript to ask the user
for information. JavaScript can do this with a pop-up This line creates a
pop-up box and
box. The following program prompts the user to stores the text the The text in quotes
enter their name and responds with a greeting. user types into it appears in the box

Use a prompt
1 This short script <script>
stores the user’s name in a var name = prompt(“Please enter your name”);
variable. Type the code into
the IDLE code window and var greeting = “Hello ” + name + “!”;
remember to save it with a document.write(greeting); JavaScript lines
“.html” filename. always end with
</script> a semicolon

The “</script>” tag shows This line displays

where the JavaScript ends the greeting EXPERT TIPS

Question appears Type carefully

2 Double-click the HTML file to launch When working with JavaScript, be
a browser window. Enter your name in the
careful to check that you’ve typed
box and click “OK” to see the greeting.
out the code correctly. If there’s an
error, the browser will simply
JavaScript A prompt box ignore the whole block of
always has “OK” JavaScript and
Please enter your name and “Cancel”
buttons will create a
Charlie blank window,
without any error
The greeting message saying
OK Cancel appears in the what went wrong.
browser
window If that happens,
check the code
< > again carefully.
Hello Charlie!
 U S I N G J AVA S C R I P T 211
Type the code
Events 1 In this example, an event (clicking a button) triggers a
An event is any action simple function (a tongue-twister appears). Type the code in
that a program can an IDLE code window and save the file with a “.html” ending.
detect, such as a mouse
click or a keystroke. The <button onclick=“tonguetwist()”>Say this!</button>
section of code that <script> Name of the function
HTML code links the
reacts to an event is function tonguetwist() function to a button
called an “event handler”. Curly brackets surround a block of code—they
Event handlers are used a { work in a similar way to indents in Python
lot in JavaScript and can document.write(“She sells seashells”);
trigger many different }
JavaScript code
functions, making web </script> defines the function
pages fun and interactive.

Click the
button The tongue-twister
appears
Run the program
2 Double-click the file < > < >
to launch the program in a She sells seashells
browser window. Say this!

Loops in JavaScript
A loop is a section of code that repeats. Using
loops is much quicker and easier than typing
out the same line of code over and over again. Loop output
2 Save the code as a “.html” file and run
Loop code it. The loop keeps repeating as long as “x”
1 Like Python, JavaScript uses “for” to set up a loop. The repeated is less than 6 (“x<6” in the code). To
lines of code are enclosed in curly brackets. This loop creates a simple increase the number of repeats, use a
counter that increases by one each time it repeats. higher number after the “<” symbol.

The “<script>” tag introduces < >

<script> the JavaScript code
for (var x=0; x<6; x++) This line creates a counter Loop count: 0
called “x” with a starting value The loop
Loop count: 1
{ of 0, rising by 1 in each repeat repeats six times
Loop count: 2
document.write(“Loop count: “+x+”<br>”);
Loop count: 3
} This line tells the computer to
write the text “Loop count:”
Loop count: 4
</script> followed by counter number Loop count: 5
212 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Bad programs SEE ALSO

 194–195 The
Internet
Not all programs are fun games or useful apps. Some
programs are designed to steal your data or damage
202–203 Busy
programs
your computer. They will often seem harmless, and
you might not realize that you have been a victim.

Malware
Programs that do things without your knowledge or
permission are known as “malware”. Unauthorized
access to a computer is a crime, but there are many
different types of programs that still try to sneak on
to your computer.

▷ Worm
A worm is a type of malware that crawls around a
network from computer to computer. Worms can clog
up networks, slowing them down—the first worm
brought the Internet to a virtual standstill in 1988. △ Virus
Just like a virus in the human body,
this malware copies itself over and over
again. They are usually spread through
emails, USB sticks, or other methods of
transferring files between computers.

REAL WORLD
Famous worm
On May 5, 2000, Internet users in the Philippines
received emails with the subject “ILOVEYOU”. An
attachment appeared to be a love letter, but was
actually a piece of malware that corrupted files.

◁ ILOVEYOU
This worm quickly spread
△ Trojan to computers around the
Malware that pretends to be a harmless program is world. It is estimated to
known as a “trojan”. The word comes from a ruse used have cost more than $20
in the Trojan War: the Greeks gave the Trojans a giant billion to fix the damage
wooden horse, with soldiers hidden inside. By breaching it caused.
the Trojan defenses without detection, they won the war.
 BAD PROGRAMS 213
What malware does
Viruses, worms, and trojans are all types
of malware that are created to get into your
machine, but what do they do once they
have infected their target? They might
delete or corrupt files, steal passwords,
or seek to control your machine for
some larger purpose as part of an
organized “zombie botnet”.

▷ Zombie botnets
Botnets are collections of infected
computers that can be used to send
spam emails, or flood a target website
with traffic to bring it crashing down.

Good software to the rescue LINGO

Thankfully, people aren’t defenseless in the fight against Hackers
malware. Anti-malware software has become big
business, with many providers competing to provide Coders that study and write
the best protection. Two well-known examples are malware are known as “hackers”.
Those who write malware to
firewalls and antivirus programs. commit crimes are known as
“black-hat” hackers, and those
who write programs to try to
protect against malware are
known as “white-hat” hackers.

△ Antivirus programs △ Firewalls

Antivirus software tries to detect Firewalls aim to prevent malware
malware. It identifies bad and dangerous network traffic
programs by scanning files and from reaching your computer.
comparing their contents with a They scan all incoming data White-hat hacker Black-hat hacker
database of suspicious code. from the Internet.
214 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Mini computers SEE ALSO

 180–181 Inside
a computer
Computers don’t have to be big or expensive. A wide
range of small and cheap computers are available.
202–203 Busy
programs
Because of their small size and low cost, these computers
are being used in lots of new and exciting ways.

Raspberry Pi
The Pi is a credit-card-sized computer, created to teach the basics
of how computers work. For its size it is impressively powerful,
with the ability to run similar programs to a modern PC. LED lights show
the Pi is working
Audio output for
headphones or speakers Two USB connectors for
a mouse, a keyboard, or
Video output for any other add-ons
older TVs

Input and output pins

for sensing and control
(good for robots)

Network connection to
Removable memory access the Internet
card stores operating
systems, programs,
and data HDMI video output—to
connect to modern TVs
Power connector

Arduino Many input and output

pins make the Arduino Microcontroller—a
The Arduino is cheaper than very adaptable single-chip computer
the Pi, but less powerful. It
is often used as a low-cost Reset button
and simple way to build
custom electronic or
robotic machines. Sockets for
connecting the
Arduino to other
USB connector used to electronics
load programs on to the
Arduino from a PC Power connector
 MINI COMPUTERS 215
Using mini computers
There are endless useful things a mini computer can do because of
its many connection options. Here are just a few suggestions.

△ Computer △ Audio output △ Mobile phones △ Gadgets

Connect a keyboard, mouse, Connect a set of speakers Connect the computer Connect LED lights and
and monitor for a fully and then send music to to the Internet using a other simple electronics to
working desktop computer. them over the network. mobile phone. make robots or gadgets.

△ Television △ Camera △ USB △ SD card

Connect a TV and use it as a Connect a basic camera Connect a USB hard drive Change the programs on
media center to show all of to your mini computer to and share your files over your mini computer just
your movies and pictures. create your own webcam. your network. by swapping SD cards.

REAL WORLD
Home-built robots
With their small size, cost, and Robotic spider controlled
by the Arduino
weight, mini computers are
being used more and more to
build different types of robot.
For example:

Weather balloons that record

weather conditions in the atmosphere.
Mini vehicles that can sense
obstacles using sonar like a bat.
Robotic arms that pick up and
move different objects.
216 PROGRAMMING IN THE REAL WORLD

Become a master SEE ALSO

 176–177 What next?

 214–215 Mini
programmer computers

The secret to becoming a master programmer is to

have fun. As long as you’re enjoying yourself, there’s
no limit to how skilled you can become at coding,
whether as a hobby or a lifelong career.

Ways to become a better programmer

Like skiing, learning the piano, or playing tennis, coding is a
skill that you’ll get better and better at over time. It can take △ Code a lot
years to become a true expert, but if you’re having fun on People say practice makes
perfect—and it’s true. The
the way, it will feel like an effortless journey. Here are a few more code you write, the
tips to help you become a master programmer. better you’ll get. Keep going
and you’ll soon be an expert.

◁ Be nosy
Read websites and books about
programming and try out other
people’s code. You’ll pick up
expert tips and tricks that might
have taken you years to figure
out on your own.
△ Steal ideas
If you come across a great program, think how you
might code it yourself. Look for clever ideas to use
in your own code. All the best programmers copy
each other’s ideas and try to improve them.

▷ Train your brain

Your brain is like a muscle—
▷ Show a friend if you exercise it, it will get
Teach someone else to stronger. Do things that
code and you’ll learn a lot help you think like a
yourself. Explaining how programmer. Solve logic
coding works is a great puzzles and brainteasers,
way of making sure you take up Sudoku, and work
understand it thoroughly. on your math.
 BECOME A MASTER PROGRAMMER 217
▷ Test your code
Test your code by entering crazy
values to see what happens. See
how well it stands up to errors.
Scala Pascal SQL
Try rewriting it to improve it or
try rewriting someone else’s— Ruby on rails C++
you’ll learn all their secret tricks.

◁ Build a robot army

You can connect your computer
to all sorts of programmable
devices, from flashing LED △ Learn new languages
lights to robots. It’s fun and
Become multilingual. Every new programming
you’ll learn lots as you figure
language you learn will teach you more about the
out how to conquer the world.
ones you already know (or thought you knew). You
can download free versions of most languages.

▷ Pull a computer to bits

Take an old computer apart ▷ Win a prize
to see how it works (ask When your skills develop,
permission first!). There why not enter an online
aren’t many components, coding contest? There are lots
so it won’t take long to to choose from at all different
figure out what all the bits levels. The toughest are
are. Best of all, build your worldwide competitions like
own computer and then Google’s Code Jam, but there
run your code on it. are easier challenges too.

REMEMBER
Have fun!
Coding is a lot like trying to solve puzzles.
It’s challenging and you’ll often get stuck.
Sometimes it’s frustrating. But you’ll also
have breakthroughs when you solve a
problem and feel a buzz of excitement
at seeing your code work. The best way to
keeping coding fun is to take on challenges
that suit you. If a project is too easy you’ll
get bored; if it’s too hard you’ll lose interest.
Never be afraid to fiddle, tinker, experiment,
and break the rules—let your curiosity lead
you. But most of all, remember to have fun!
218 REFERENCE

Glossary
algorithm call event GUI
A set of step-by-step To use a function in a Something a computer The GUI, or graphical user
instructions followed program. program can react to, such interface, is the name for
when performing a as a key being pressed or the buttons and windows
task: for example, by a compression the mouse being clicked. that make up the part of
computer program. A way of making data the program you can see
smaller so that it takes execute and interact with.
ASCII up less storage space. See run.
“American Standard hacker
Code for Information computer network file A person who breaks
Interchange”—a code used A way to link two or more A collection of data stored into a computer system.
for storing text characters computers together. with a name. “White hat” hackers work
as binary code. for computer security
container float companies and look for
binary code A part of a program A number with a decimal problems in order to fix
A way of writing numbers that can be used to point in it. them. “Black hat” hackers
and data that uses only store a number of break into computer
0s and 1s. other data items. function systems to cause harm or
A piece of code that does to make profit from them.
bit data part of a larger task.
Information, such as hardware
A binary digit—0 or 1.
The smallest unit of text, symbols, and gate The physical parts of a
digital information. numerical values. Used by computers to computer that you can
make decisions. Gates see or touch, such as wires,
Boolean expression debug use one or more input the keyboard, and the
To look for and correct signals to produce an display screen.
A question that has only
two possible answers, such errors in a program. output signal, based on
a rule. For example, “AND” hexadecimal
as “true” and “false”.
debugger gates produce a positive A number system based on
branch A program that checks output only when both 16, where the numbers 10
other programs for errors input signals are positive. to 15 are represented by
A point in a program where
in their code. Other gates include “OR” the letters A to F.
two different options are
available to choose from. and “NOT”.
directory index number
bug A place to store files to GPU A number given to an
keep them organized. A graphics processing item in a list. In Python,
An error in a program’s
unit (GPU) allows images the index number of the
code that makes it behave
encryption to be displayed on a first item will be 0, the
in an unexpected way.
computer screen. second item 1, and so on.
A way of encoding data so
byte that only certain people
can read or access it. graphics input
A unit of digital
information that Visual elements on a Data that is entered into
contains eight bits. screen that are not text, a computer: for example,
such as pictures, icons, from a microphone,
and symbols. keyboard, or mouse.
 GLOSSARY 219

integer memory programming language statement

Any number that does not A computer chip inside a A language that is used The smallest complete
contain a decimal point computer that stores data. to give instructions to instruction a programming
and is not written as a a computer. language can be broken
fraction (a whole number). module down into.
A section of code that random
interface performs a single part A function in a string
The means by which of an overall program. computer program that A series of characters.
the user interacts with allows unpredictable Strings can contain
software or hardware. operator outcomes. Useful when numbers, letters, or
A symbol that performs creating games. symbols, such as a colon.
IP address a specific function: for
A series of numbers that example, “+” (addition) run syntax
makes up a computer’s or “-” (subtraction). The command to make The rules that determine
individual address when a program start. how a program must be
it is connected to OS structured in order for it
the Internet. A computer’s operating server to work properly.
system (OS) provides the A computer that stores files
library basis for other programs accessible via a network. trojan
A collection of functions to run, and connects A piece of malware that
that can be reused in them to hardware. single-step pretends to be another
other projects. A way of making a piece of software to
output computer program run trick the user.
loop Data that is produced by one step at a time, to
Part of a program that a computer program and check that each step is tuple
repeats itself (to prevent viewed by the user. working properly. A list of items separated by
the need for the same commas and surrounded
piece of code to be typed port socket by brackets.
out multiple times). A series of numbers The combination of an
used by a computer as IP address and a port, Unicode
machine code the “address” for a which lets programs send A universal code used by
The basic language specific program. data directly to each other computers to represent
understood by computers. over the Internet. thousands of symbols
Programming languages processor and text characters.
must be translated into A type of electronic chip software
machine code before the inside a computer that The programs that run on variable
processor can read them. runs programs. a computer and control A named place where you
how it works. can store information
malware program that can be changed.
Software that is designed A set of instructions that a sprite
to harm or disrupt a computer follows in order A movable object. virus
computer. Malware is short to complete a task. A type of malware that
for “malicious software”. works by multiplying
itself to spread between
computers.
220 REFERENCE

Index
Page numbers in bold refer bits 183, 189, 218 in strings 114 algorithms 16, 17
to main entries. black-hat hackers 213 Unicode 185 bad programs 212–13
blank lines 117 Chef 199 essential 190–1
blocks circles, drawing 157, 158 experimenting with 19

A
Ada 18
colored 31
connecting 18
creating 72–3
circuits, computer 187, 188, 189
clicking, and events 44, 66, 162
clock pulse 188
how they work 15
uses of 14
computers
addition 52, 102, 112 defining 72, 73 coordinates deconstructing 217
Adobe Flash 25 functions of 31 drawing with 158 invention of 201
AI see Artificial Intelligence help with 83 and location 168 main parts of 180–1
algorithms 16, 17, 150–1, 218 with inputs 73 and movement 166 mini 214–15
Allen, Paul 200 programming 22 in Python 157 supercomputers 203
ALU see arithmetic logic unit types of 31 in Scratch 56–7 console games 198
American Standard Code for blocks palette 27, 31, 32, 35, 38, COBOL 199 consoles 14, 204
Information Interchange see 50 code windows 92, 93, 106–7 containers 134, 218
ASCII bomb disposal 203 errors in 94 “continue” keyword 127
“and” block/operator 63, 103, Boole, George 186 coders 14, 15 “Control” blocks 31, 65, 68
118, 119 Boolean expressions 62, 63, 64, becoming a coder 18–19 control unit 180
AND gate 186 65, 111, 118–19, 120, 218 becoming a master controls, game 174, 205
Android operating system 198, botnets, zombie 213 programmer 216–17 costumes 40–1
207 brackets famous 200–1 and movement 23, 40, 41
anti-malware software 213 errors 94 and games 204 random 61
antivirus programs 213 in lists 128, 129 think like a computer 16–17 Roll the dice project 60–1
apostrophes 115 in tuples 134 coding and speech bubbles 41
Apple Mac using 112, 119 clear 143 switching 34, 40, 41
file management 193 brain, training 216 computer programs 14–15 cryptography 202
operating system 190, 207 branches/branching 65, 99, 100, reading 176, 216 CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) 208
programming languages 198 120–1, 218 what is coding? 14–19 cursor tools 26
Python 3 on 88, 90 breaks, inserting in loops 126–7 coding clubs 82, 207
Scratch on 25 Brin, Sergei 201 coding contests 217
apps, making 206–7
Arduino 214, 215
arithmetic logic unit (ALU) 181
broadcast blocks 70–1, 77
browser windows 210, 211
Bubble blaster project 164–75
colors
adding to shapes 159
changing 60, 160
D
data 218
arrow keys 163, 166 bugs 148–9, 177, 207, 218 mixing 156 and functions 131
Artificial Intelligence (AI) 203, buttons in Python 156–7 input 180
205 creating 152, 154–5 selecting 156 output 181
ASCII 184, 218 labelling 155 commands secret 202
audio output 181, 215 linking to events 162 Python and Scratch sending via Internet 194, 195
bytes (B) 183, 192, 218 compared 102–5 theft 213
commas “Data” blocks 31, 50

B
Babbage, Charles 200 C
in lists 128
in tuples 134
comments, adding 143
data storage
in files 192–3
memory 180, 181, 188, 189
backgrounds/backdrop 23, 26 C 18, 198 comparison blocks/operators in variables 50
changes to 45 C++ 198 62–3, 118–19 data types
selecting from library 33, 74 calculations 180, 181, 189 compass 39 converting 111
switching 41 in Python 112 compilers 191 mixed 111
backpack, Scratch 82 in Scratch 52–3 components, computer 181, 217 spotting 111
banking 199, 202 supercomputers 203 compression 202, 218 tuples and dictionaries 134–5
bases 182–3 calling functions 104, 139, 218 computer circuits 187, 188, 189 debugging 148–9, 174, 177, 207,
BASIC 199 cameras 215 computer games see games 218
battery, computer 181 canvas 157, 158 computer languages see decimal system 182
beats 59 cars 14 programming languages decisions
Berners-Lee, Tim 201 characters computer programmers see and branches 64–5
binary code/signals 15, 182–3, between outputs 117 coders flowcharts 141
184, 185, 195, 218 numbering in strings 115 computer programs 14–15 logic gates 186–7
 INDEX 221

dice simulator 155

dictionaries 135
direction 39
floats 110, 218
flowcharts 141, 146
folders 193
H
hackers 213, 218
connection to 19
programming for 208–9
Internet browsers 209
directories 193, 218 “for” loops 122, 124 hardware 15, 181, 191, 218 Internet Protocol 194
directory trees 193 “forever” block 23, 31, 32, 33, 38, programming 198 interpreters 191
division 52, 102, 112 39, 46, 47, 125 hexadecimal 156, 183, 185, 218 inverters 186
domain names 194 forever loop 46, 47, 69, 103, 125, high-level languages 191 iOS devices 198
drawing 133 Hopper, Grace 200 IP addresses 194, 195, 219
on a canvas 157, 165 Fortran 199 HTML (HyperText Markup
with coordinates 158 full stops 117 Language) 208, 209, 210
pens and turtles 48–9, 122,
152
functions 72, 130–1, 132–3, 218
calling 104, 130, 139 J
Drawing machine project 140–7
drums 59
getting data back from 131
making 130
passing data to 131
I
IDLE
Java 18, 198
JavaScript 18, 198, 208, 209
using 210–11
using and naming 143 code and shell windows 106–7 JPEGs 193

E and variables 138–9 color codes 107

and errors 148
educational apps 206
electrical signals 195
“elif” command 121 G
how it works 93
and installation of Python
89, 90, 91
K
keyboard
“else-if” command see “elif” gadgets 215 what is IDLE? 88 events 44, 66, 162, 163, 211
command Game Boy 201 working in 92–3, 209 input function 116, 162, 163,
emails game engines 205 “if” block/command 64, 120 180
spam 213 game logic 205 “if-elif-else” command 121 keys, dictionaries 135
websites 198, 208 games 14, 204–5 “if-else” command 120 kilobytes (KB) 183, 192
encryption 202, 218 customizing 81 “if-then” block/command 64, 66,
“end” label 117 improving 174 67, 103
errors 94–5
finding and fixing 148–9
Escape the dragon! project 32–7
in JavaScript 209
making with Python 177
for mobile devices 206
“if-then-else” block/command
64, 65, 76, 103
“in” operator 119
L
laptops 181
event handlers 166, 211 online 195 indents 98 latch circuits 189
events 211, 218 random numbers in 53 index numbers 115, 128, 218 letter commands 141
reacting to 162–3 see also projects infinite loops 125 level designers 204
“Events” blocks 31, 32, 44–5 Gates, Bill 200 input libraries 219
EXCLUSIVE OR gate 187 gates, logic 186–7, 218 blocks with 73 building your own 176
experimenting Ghost game project 96–9 devices 162, 180, 189 help and documentation
with coding 19 gigabytes (GB) 189, 192 logic gates 186–7 153
with Python 176–7 global variables 138, 139 program 31, 100, 101, 106, importing 153
with Scratch 82–3 GNU/Linux operating system 201 116, 180, 218 light, data transmission as
Google 86, 201, 217 “input()” function 101, 130 pulses of 195
GPU 218 insertion sort 150 Linux 88, 201

F
Facebook 201
graphic designers 204
graphical user interface
see GUI
installation
Python 3 88–91
Scratch 24–5
lists
adding/deleting items 55, 105,
128, 129, 169
false see true or false graphics 218 instruments, musical 59 combining 129
fiberoptic cables 195 changing 160–1 integers 110, 219 commands 105
file browsers 190 color and coordinates 156–7 Integrated DeveLopment copying 137
files 218 effects 43, 152, 153 Environment see IDLE creating 55, 105
compressing 202 games 205 interface in loops 129
corruption 213 making shapes 158–9 GUI 154–5 playing with 55
managing 193 graphics processing unit Scratch 26–7, 49 putting tuples in 134
properties 192 see GPU user 140, 146–7, 219 in Python 128–9, 132–3
sizes 192 grid, x and y 56, 158 Internet 194–5 in Scratch 54–5
storing data in 192–3 GUI 154–9, 218 connecting to other using 55, 129, 167
firewalls 213 computers via 152 in variables 136–7
222 REFERENCE

local variables 138, 139

logic circuits 187, 188, 189
logic errors 148
mini computers 214–15
Miyamoto, Shigeru 201
mobile phones 14, 204, 215
O
Objective-C 198
from the past 199
and interpreters 191
learning new 217
logic gates 186–7, 188, 189 apps 206–7 Ook 199 popular 198
logical operators 118–19 modules 219 open source movement 201 Python and Scratch commands
LOGO 49 importing 153 operating systems (OS) 25, compared 102–5
“Looks” blocks 31, 40, 42–3 Standard Library 152 88–91, 92, 190–1, 207, 219 text-based 86
loop blocks 46 Monkey mayhem project 74–81 operators 219 weird 199
loops 100, 103, 219 motherboard 181 blocks 31, 52, 53 programs see computer
complex 68–9 “Motion” blocks 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, logical 118–19 programs
with conditions 104 38–9, 57, 75 “or” block/operator 63, 103, 118 projects 11, 23
escaping 126–7 motion detector, webcam 45 OR gate 187 Bubble blaster 164–75
“for” 122, 124 mouse OS see operating systems Drawing machine 140–7
forever 46, 47, 69, 103, 125 control 25 output Escape the dragon! 32–7
in JavaScript 211 events 162, 211 and branching 120–1 Ghost game 96–9
lists in 129 input function 180, 189 devices 180, 181, 189 Monkey mayhem 74–81
main 99, 168, 169, 171 mouse-pointer logic gates 186–7 remixing existing 82
nested 69, 123 coordinates 56 program 31, 92, 100, 101, Roll the dice 60–1
in Python 122–7, 133 following 69 106, 108, 116–17, 180–1 Silly sentences 132–3
in Scratch 46–7, 68–9 pointing toward 32, 33, 36 PS4 204
simple 46–7 movement pseudocode 143, 144, 147
skipping 124, 127
stopping 125
variable 123
coordinates 57
and costumes 23, 40, 41
with keys 66, 163, 166
P
packets 194, 195
Pygame 153, 177
Python 19, 83, 84–177
algorithms 150–1
while 124–5 and “Sensing” blocks 66, 67 Page, Larry 201 ASCII in 184
Lovelace, Ada 200 sprites 22, 23, 38–9, 57 painting area 60, 61 Booleans 111
low-level languages 191 Mpegs 193 passwords, theft of 213 branching 120–1
multiplication 52, 102, 112 paths 193 Bubble blaster project 164–75
music “Pen” blocks 31, 48–9, 87, 107 bugs and debugging 148–9

M
Mac see Apple Mac
adding 37, 79
files 192, 193, 202
making your own 59
Peters, Tim 151
photograph files 193
Pi 214
code structure 98–9
color and coordinates 156–7
color codes 107
Mac OS X 190 playing 59 pictures, files 192, 193 different versions of 177
machine code 188, 191, 219 tempo 59 Piet 199 Drawing machine project
Malbolge 199 mutable/immutable objects pilots 205 140–7
malware 212–13, 219 129 Pixar 86 errors 94–5
Math module 152 pixels 156 escaping loops 126–7
math player’s name 50 functions 130–1, 132–3
in Python 102, 112–13
in Scratch 52–3, 102
MATLAB 18
N
name errors 95
PNGs 193
pop-up boxes/windows 146,
209, 210
Ghost game project 96–9
harder commands 104–5
input and output 116–17
medicine 203 NASA 86 ports 195, 219 installing 88–91
megabytes (MB) 183, 189, 192 negative numbers 56, 57 position introducing IDLE 92–3
memory 180–1, 188–9, 190, nested loops 47, 69, 123 coordinates 56–7 libraries 152–3
192, 219 network adaptors 181, 195 random 43, 57 lists 128–9, 132–3
messages networks, computer 152, “print()” function 87, 101, 102, lists in variables 136–7
reacting to 70 194, 218 108, 109, 116, 117, 130 loops in 122–7, 133
sending and receiving 70 nibbles 183 printers 181 making decisions 118–19
microphones, and events 44, 45 NOT gate 186 processors 100, 101, 180–1, making games with 177
Microsoft 200 notes, musical 59 188–9, 190, 203, 219 making shapes 158–9
Microsoft Windows numbers program flow 100–1 making windows 154–5
file management 193 binary and bases 182–3 programming languages 15, 18, math in 112–13
operating system 190, 207 comparing 62, 118 19, 22, 49, 83, 198–9, 219 numbers in 110
Python 3 on 88, 89 data types in Python 110 conversion into machine code print in 87
Scratch on 25 random 53, 104, 113, 152, 155 188 program flow 100–1
millennium bug 199 first 200 reacting to events 162–3
 INDEX 223

saving work 88 home-built 215 simple commands 102–3 sound designers 204
and Scratch 87, 101, 102–5, Roll the dice project 60–1 simple loops 46–7 sound library 79
124, 125 rotation software 24 sounds 22, 23
scripts 101 styles 38 special effects 42–3 adding to program 58–9, 79
shell and code windows 92, tools 61 sprites 28–9 detectors 45
93, 106–7 routers 194, 195 strings and lists 54–5 in games 205
shortcuts 171 Ruby 18 true or false 62–3 playing 58
Silly sentences project 132–3 running typical programs 23 selecting from library 37, 58
simple commands 102–3 programs 23, 102, 106 understanding 22 volume control 58
sorting in 151 scripts 30 variables 50–1, 108 spam 213
strings in 110, 114–15, 117 runtime errors 148 versions of 25 speakers 181
tuples and dictionaries 134–5 and webcams 45 speech bubbles 22, 28, 87, 101
turtle graphics 87 website 24, 82 adding 41, 161
conversations 71
types of data 110–11
Unicode in 185
variables 99, 101, 108–9, 116
S
saving your work 11
what is Scratch? 18, 22–3
screens 181
scripts 22, 23
speed, setting 51, 77
“split()” function 144
variables and functions 138–9 in Python 88, 93, 106, 107 building 27 sprites 22, 23, 28–9, 39, 219
website 89 in Scratch 24, 25, 33 and colored blocks 30–1 adding graphic effects 43
what is Python? 19, 86–7 saying things (in Python) 161 flow of 30 adding more 76–7, 80
what next? 176–7 score 50, 79, 99, 172–3 pausing 69 adding sounds 58–9
while loops 124–5 scoreboards 172 in Python 101 changing size 43
Scratch 20–83 repeating 68 changing time or speed 35, 51
account 24 running 30 coordinates 56–7
collisions 67
Q
questions
adding sounds 58–9, 79
backpack 82
blocks 30–1, 72–3
in Scratch 30–1, 101
and sprites 28
stopping 30, 68
communication between
70–1
asking 54 coordinates 56–7 testing 30 controlling 31, 66
combining 63 complex loops 68–9 scripts area 27 copying or deleting 29
true or false 62–3 costumes 40–1 scripts tab 27 creating and editing 29, 34, 36
quote marks creating blocks 72–3 scriptwriters 204 designing your own 39
errors 94 decisions and branches 64–5 SD cards 215 direction 39
in lists 128 Escape the dragon! project secret data 202 and events 44–5
in strings 110, 114, 116 32–7 selection sort 151 hiding and showing 42
events 44–5 “Sensing” blocks 31, 34, 36, 51, in the interface 28
experimenting with 82–3 65, 66–7, 75 movement 22, 23, 38–9, 57,
66–7
R
radio waves 195
harder commands 104–5
help menu 83
hide and seek 42–3
separators 117
servers 219
shapes
naming 29
pen tools 48–9
RAM 189 installing and launching 24–5 adding color 159 renaming 29
“randint()” function 98, 99, 101, interface 26–7, 49 drawing 140 rotation styles 38
104, 113, 130, 153, 155 lists 55 making 158–9 and scripts 28
Random Access Memory make some noise 58–9 moving 160 selecting from library 34, 36,
see RAM making things move 38–9 naming 160 39, 75, 76
Random module 152, 153, 157 math in 52–3 shell windows 92, 93, 106–7, 116 and “Sensing” blocks 66–7
random numbers 53, 104, 113, menu and tools 26 errors in 95 sprite list 27
152, 155 and microphones 45 silicon chips 188, 189 turtle graphics 49
random positions 43, 57 Monkey mayhem project Silly sentences project 132–3 and variables 35, 50–1
Raspberry Pi 25, 214 74–81 skipping, in loops 127 what they can do 28
reacting to events 162–3 pens and turtles 48–9, 87 slicing 115 square roots 53
readable code 133 and Python 87, 102–5, 124, 125 smartphones 206 stage 23, 25, 27
remainders 53 and Python’s Ghost game 101 social apps 206 Standard Library modules 152
repeat loops 46, 122, 211 Roll the dice project 60–1 Socket module 152 stop button 30
“repeat until” block 68, 76, 77, scripts and colored blocks sockets 195, 219 stopping programs 102
78, 124 30–1, 101 software 14, 15, 219 strategy games 205
rewriting code 217 sending messages 70–1 sorting algorithms 150–1 strings 219
robots 16, 203, 217 sensing and detecting 66–7 “Sound” blocks 31, 58–9 adding 114
224 REFERENCE

assigning 108
comparing 63, 118, 119
creating 114
turtle graphics 49, 87, 105, 107
commands 105, 145
Drawing machine project
read-only 51
results in 52
in Scratch 50–1, 108
X
x and y coordinates 56, 57, 157,
joining 105 140–7 splitting tuples into 134 158, 166, 168
length of 114 and loops 122 strings in 114 Xbox One 204
operators 119 Turtle module 152, 176 using 51, 109
in Python 110, 114–15, 117 video files 192, 193
in Scratch 54–5
separating 117
subprograms see functions U
video games 204–5
writing 153
viruses 212–13, 219
Y
Yokoi, Gunpei 201
subtraction 52, 102, 112 Ubuntu visual output 181
supercomputers 203 file management 193 volume control 58
surgeons 205
symbols, choice of 143
syntax 219
Python 3 on 88, 91
Scratch on 25
Unicode 185, 219
von Neumann, John 180
Z
zombie botnets 213
errors 94, 148 upper/lower case 94
USBs 215
user interface 140, 146–7, 219
W
washing machines 14
Zuckerberg, Mark 201

T watches 206
wearable technology 206
tablets 25, 206
tabs 26, 27
teleporting 43
V
values
weather forecasting 199, 203,
206, 215
web browsers 86, 195, 198
television 215 assigning to variables 108, web servers 198
tempo 59 109, 113, 118, 136 webcams, and events 44, 45
terabytes (TB) 192 changing 136 websites
testers, game 204 in dictionaries 135 construction 208–9
text editors 88 and functions 131 email 198, 208
text files 193 variables 35, 219 interactive 198, 208, 210, 211
text messages 14 assigning a value to 108, 109, Python 89
text-based programming 113, 118, 136 Scratch 24, 82
languages 86 changing contents of 109 while loops 124–5
time limit 172–3 comparing 62, 63, 118 white-hat hackers 213
Time module 152 creating 50, 54, 77, 102, 108 Wikipedia 201
Tkinter module 152, 154–5, 156, deleting 51 Windows see Microsoft Windows
157, 158, 159, 162, 165, 176 and functions 138–9 windows
transistors 188 global 138, 139 code and shell 92, 93, 106–7
travel apps 206 lists in 136–7 making 152, 154–5, 165
Trojans 212, 213, 219 local 138, 139 word processing 86
true or false 62–3, 64, 111, loop variables 123 words, comparing 63
118–21, 125 naming 50, 109, 143 World Wide Web 201
tuples 134, 219 in Python 99, 101, 108–9, 116, worms 212, 213
Turing, Alan 200 138–9

Acknowledgments
DORLING KINDERSLEY would like to thank: Max Albert for technical Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT
assistance on the US edition; Vicky Short, Mandy Earey, Sandra Perry, Media Lab. See http://scratch.mit.edu
and Tannishtha Chakraborty for their design assistance; Olivia
Stanford for her editorial assistance; Caroline Hunt for proofreading; Python is copyright © 2001–2013 Python Software Foundation; All
Helen Peters for the index; and Adam Brackenbury for creative Rights Reserved.
technical support.

DORLING KINDERSLEY INDIA would like to thank: Kanika Mittal for

design assistance; Pawan Kumar for pre-production assistance; and
Saloni Singh for editorial management of the jackets team.