Programming using Scratch
Computer programming was never a
focus for me as I was on the technical side of Information Technology in System
Administration, Design, and Leadership. In my undergraduate degree, many
programming courses will grow my scope in technical skills—the underpinning of
an Information Technology degree in computer programming. Using Scratch and
reading through the course material, I found it a challenge initially. I had to
read the sections a few times and research on my own how to use Scratch. With
anything new, you are always uncomfortable until you start reviewing and
gaining knowledge. When I opened Scratch, I did not know where to start. I had
to review a video on the basics of Scratch and its functions. After reviewing
the video, the reading from our course material begins to make a little more
sense. I don’t understand the X and Y portion of the commands in Scratch. I am
sure over time, I will understand it more.
In Information Technology, I had to
learn how to research information that I did not know. Understanding Scratch
and the basics was a prime example of this research. I started with an
introductory video and then looked at an advanced video of commands. Again, I could
change backgrounds and command Sprite around the canvas I wanted. Sprite was
floating in space for my project to ask questions and say hello. I realized
that understanding how to program is powerful in that you have total control of
the code and operation of the software. Instructing the CPU with compiled code
is similar to my days in Network Engineering, where I would traffic shape
network traffic for prioritization and link choice.
In using Scratch and doing a
comparative analysis, I think the Assembly is a close representation as
Assembly is a textual human-understandable representation of zeros and ones. Python
writes the code and then runs a compile to covert the code to Assembly or
machine language. Computers use zeros and ones for instructions. For humans, we
need to see text with Alphanumerical, and computers need that information
complied to ones and zero to be sent to the CPU for processing. It is written
using ones and zeros in machine language and does not need a compiler since it
is already in binary form. Languages such as Python and C++ need a compiler to
convert the text code into binary for the computer to read.
I found Python more straightforward
than assembling and machine language in reviewing the programming languages. I followed
the example code and clearly understood how the code would take multiple years
with an integer. Putting in comments after the pound sound allows me to
understand what the code does versus exploring each line of code.
I believe Assembly could be used when
instructing a hardware device to do something. For example, TVs have
programming code to do X when Y is pressed. Or if a washing machine needs to
understand what to do when the user presses a specific cycle. Python is helpful
in modeling in the Healthcare sector for viral infection rates. My organization
used Python to write code to determine the peaks and values of the pandemic. On
the system administration side of Information Technology, Python is used to
automate mundane administrative tasks. For example, disabling users in Active
Directory can be automated using Python or Powershell.
In reviewing all the languages, I
think Python is taking the world by storm due to being easy to learn and use
for multitudes of applications in the private and public sectors. Java and
Javascript dominate the mobile and internet markets. In my opinion, I believe
Python is most prevalent in today’s programming sectors. As technology advances
and computer languages become easier to use, we will see a rise in Computer
Science majors entering school and the workforce to continue digitally transforming
the world.
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