Scratch? What’s that? Like, a cat game or something? Well, yes and no. There are cat games on it, but Scratch itself is not a cat game. Scratch is a free coding platform where you can code your own games and videos, and play or watch other people’s coded games and videos. When I first learned about it in third or fourth grade, I was skeptical. Why would I want to code things? That sounded hard. But by the time our first day on Scratch was over, I felt differently.
The program provides different tutorials for you to use if you want to try something specific. What I like about Scratch, but what I know some of my friends don’t, is that you don’t have to type each code. The codes are sorted into categories of Motion, Looks, Sound, Pen, Data, Events, Control, Sensing, Operators, and More Blocks. You click on the category, then drag whichever command you want into a chain of codes.
Most commands have variables, like the sprites (things on the screen that you’re commanding), numbers, or words. Sometimes, commands like Controls have a box for another command inside of it. For example, the command Repeat would then have a chain of codes inside of it to tell it what to repeat. Or sometimes, there are multiple boxes, like the command If Then Else. After “If”, there’s a box for a single command, e.g. Touching color ___. Under “If Then,” there’s a box for a chain of commands, and another spot for a chain under else.
Once you are finished adding sprites and backgrounds, coding them, and testing and editing your project over and over again, you can choose to publish it on Scratch, which just means that anyone else could stumble across it and play it. Or you could keep it in your folder for you, and only you, to play. You can also organize projects into Studios.
Basically, Scratch carries the fun of coding without the need to learn an entire coding language.
They are magnificent. I had only seen one waterfall in person before, Multnomah Falls near Portland, Oregon, and those had been alongside a green cliff face, so you naturally saw it from the top, and it didn’t seem to be all that powerful, just beautiful. Niagara Falls, on the other hand, are at ground level at the top and drop into a gorge, so you could see the sheer force of the water tumbling over the Falls at terrifying speeds. Can you believe somebody rode a barrel down that???
