Scr0300: scratch 2.0 overview  (Page 3/7)

"...users are primarily age 8 to 17, with a peak at age 12. A good number of users are adult computer hobbyists and educators that createprojects in Scratch, even though a lot of them know other professional programming languages. Some members of the community have emerged asmentors that help the beginners and provide advice."

The article also stated,

"While 70 percent of users are male, no correlation was found between gender and the number of projects... This indicates that even thoughthe majority of users are male, the females are as engaged in creating projects as the males."

Not in organized classes

By following the discussions in the forums, I have observed that a large percentage of scratchers are not enrolled in any sort of formal programmingclasses. Rather, this is something that they are doing on their own. In fact, it seems that for many scratchers, creating, sharing, and discussingprojects is a form of social networking much like other students might engage in using the better known social networking sites.

Viewing tip

I recommend that you open another copy of this document in a separate browser window and use the following links to easily find and view the imageswhile you are reading about them.

Images

• Image 1 . Rushes with sun by pandalecteur.
• Image 2 . How to draw a head by dialga..
• Image 3 . Marble Racer SBE 4000 by jamie.
• Image 4 . Perspective03 by dbal.
• Image 5 . Day Dream by cremeglace.
• Image 6 . Screen shot of the Scratch 2.0 development environment.
• Image 7 . Costumes for a boy walking.
• Image 8 . The toolbox buttons and toolbox pane.

Programming for many purposes

The Scratch (Adobe Flash) player

Scratch projects are normally executed within the Scratch development environment shown in Image 6 . Unlike the earlier version 1.4, you do not need to have the Scratch software installed on your computer.Instead all Scratch 2.0 projects are developed, executed, and viewed online in your browser. However, you must have the Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer to develop, execute and view the projects.

You can start a project running by clicking the green flag when the project finishes loading into your browser. You can stop the execution of a project byclicking the red button in the upper-right corner. You can restart the execution by clicking the green flag in the upper-rightcorner.

Computer art by pandalecteur

The scratchers who create and post these projects come at it from many different viewpoints, but they are all programming in order to accomplish theirown purposes. My guess is that in many cases, programming is simply a means to an end. For example, I would categorize the scratcher named pandalecteur , whose work you will see in Image 1 , as a serious artist.

Figure

Image 1. rushes with sun by pandalecteur.

Image 1 contains a screen shot from the running project named rushes with sun . You will find links to more of her creations here . (Just click on one of her projects and then click the green flag to start it running.) She combines her programming talent with her artistic talent to produce beautiful animated creations.