Month: August 2014

Teaching computer science — without touching a computer | The Hechinger Report

ByAnnie Murphy Paul

A group of children on a playground, each kid clutching a slip of paper with a number on it, moves along a line drawn in chalk, comparing numbers as they go and sorting themselves into ascending order from one to ten.

Another group of children, sitting in a circle, passes pieces of fruit — an apple, an orange — from hand to hand until the color of the fruit they’re holding matches the color of the T-shirt they’re wearing.

via Teaching computer science — without touching a computer | The Hechinger Report.

Hack ‘n’ Slash

INTRODUCING HACK ‘N’ SLASH

Howdy!

I’m Brandon Dillon, the project lead on Hack ‘n’ Slash, Double Fine’s upcoming puzzle adventure game about hacking and reverse engineering.

When I was a kid, I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on betamax over and over and over again. I still think there’s more romanticism in the occupation of “treasure hunter” than just about anything else.

I’ve always loved games with lots of secrets in them, and when I first discovered a hex editor in an emulator, it dawned on me that I could be a kind of digital treasure hunter – no game could keep even its deepest secrets from me if I adventured log enough in its code and memory.

Hack ‘n’ Slash is a game about that mystery and romanticism. It’s rich in secrets, but with a bit of cleverness, you’ll be able to hack and slash your way to the heart of all of them.

Developing the full version of the game has been very rewarding because we’ve been able to take the hacking mechanics and make them real. You’ll mess with the game’s actual variables and dismantle the game’s actual code. We can’t wait to put it in your hands and see where you take it.

via Hack ‘n’ Slash.

Three Video Games That Teach Programming Through Play | MindShift

August 27, 2014

By Tanner Higgin, Graphite

The push to get kids to code has been such a hot topic these past few years you might be sick of hearing about it. There are those that see code as a critical skill — like learning a second language – which all kids need to learn. Others question whether programming is as important as critical thinking, or if code literacy is more or less important than traditional textual/numerical literacy. While this controversy continues to circulate, most people can agree that a basic understanding of code and coders is an increasingly important part of being a critical thinker in a world that’s full of screens and data.

Since digital games are both coded objects and systems that can be critiqued and better understood, they sit nicely between the evangelistic and tempered supporters of code literacy. Games build critical thinking skills and teach code literacy, offering authentic experiences that let kids experiment with how code works. They’re solid platforms to begin exploring programming.

via Three Video Games That Teach Programming Through Play | MindShift.

Online Code Editor – Codeanywhere

Codeanywhere is cloud based code editor that enables users to develop, maintain and collaborate on their web sites and application from any device, anywhere in the world.At Codeanywhere people keep up with their projects, edit their web sites and the like – without having to drag their computer along.Enjoy the freedom of traveling light and the security of knowing that if you need to, you can log on to Codeanywhere from any device and get to work! Think of it as Google Docs for developers.

via Online Code Editor – Codeanywhere.

Year of Code

Year of Code is an independent, non-profit campaign to encourage people across the country to get coding for the first time in 2014. Through code people can discover the power of computer science, changing the way they think about, and get the most out of, the world around them.We will be banging the drum for all the fantastic coding initiatives taking place over the course of year and want to help many more people engage with technology and access important training opportunities.Over the course of the year we will signpost national and community tech events, crowdsource funding to help parents, pupils and educational organisations. We will commission detailed polling and analysis on how we can take coding far and wide.

via Year of Code.

p5.js

Hello! p5.js is a JavaScript library that starts with the original goal of Processing, to make coding accessible for artists, designers, educators, and beginners, and reinterprets this for today’s web.Using the original metaphor of a software sketchbook, p5.js has a full set of drawing functionality. However, you’re not limited to your drawing canvas, you can think of your whole browser page as your sketch! For this, p5.js has addon libraries that make it easy to interact with other HTML5 objects, including text, input, video, webcam, and sound.p5.js is a new interpretation, not an emulation or port, and it is in active development. An official editing environment is coming soon, as well as many more features!

via p5.js.