Brains, Bugs And Byte

We have been working hard lately with the coding program “Swift Playgrounds”. This program was very anticipated and was released with iOS 10. Although it is a learning app, almost all of our class – if not all – is having a lot of fun with it. That’s down to the fact that it is set up like a game. You can choose your character and there are different levels so it feels like a game, so it’s a win win win scenario, the teacher is teaching, we are learning, and having fun at the same time!

Just because it’s fun doesn’t mean it isn’t a challenge. The first bit is pretty mellow so it gives you a good introduction, but as you get deeper in to the programming, you face different obstacles. This causes you to think differently, to figure out a different way of solving the task. I have noticed that I am thinking way to complexly about this, where as you don’t need to with the different coding like “func” or “for”. I imagine this really improves our learning and challenging us is a good way of expanding our knowledge. We are still in the midst of learning to code, so I’m sure there are many more challenges we will face later on, that will make it harder, but for now, we’re just playing a game.

Coding Video

So far the coding has been pretty easy with a few exceptions. I haven’t struggled too much so I haven’t totally lost it. The hardest thing is either remembering what each code does, or trying to figure out where to move Byte first. We are 3/7 of the way through the first chunk of our coding program, “Learn To Code 1”. The different codes we have explored so far are “Commands”, “Functions” and “For Loops”. These have been a good introduction to coding, with the way they are developed it introduces you at the right speed. The app is pretty easy to work with too, there are a few flaws but they are still on the first or one of the beginning versions of the app.

Overall, I am glad we are using this program, and doing coding in general. It lets us have freedom with our work but also learn a lot about what is behind all of the apps and games we use every day.