Foundations
Working It Out
The computer does arithmetic on values it did not have when you wrote the program, grows a box from its own value, and decides what to do with a leftover.
Begin — Unit 01 →What this is
Three units on what a computer does with numbers. It works a value out from values it was given. It puts a box’s own value back into the box, larger, which is the line behind every score. And it decides what to do when a sum does not come out evenly, which turns out to be a question every program has to answer.
Who it’s for
Anyone ready to work with numbers. A variable is a named place holding a value.
LET puts a value there, ASK reads an answer into it, and SHOW displays a result.
We use numbers for the input in these examples.
If those ideas are new, The Basics gives them more room. You do not need to have followed a particular language course.
The shape
- Working it out — arithmetic from values the player types, why
*means multiply, and the order sums happen in. - A box that grows from itself —
LET score = score + 10, the most useful line in any game. - When it doesn’t divide evenly — the whole answer, how many fit, what is left over, and rounding.
Next comes Decisions, where a program stops running the same lines every time and starts to react.