Visual Programming
By Austin
What is it?
Visual programming is a type of programming for people who like to see what they're editing or a live viewer of where their objects are. People also use design with block based code. Block based being the beginner's point for learning how to write code properly.
Who uses it?
Many people use visual based program design as their main way of making games. Big game companies probably use a visual game tool to make their games. Educational block code apps like Scratch or Tynker were made to teach children about programming.
Some visual program editors
- Visual Studio (Mircosoft, Program Design, Advanced)
- Scratch (MIT Media Lab, Educational, Beginner)
- Tynker (Neuron Fuel Inc., Educational, Medium)
- App Inventor (Google / MIT Media Lab / MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, App Design, Medium (Requires certain knowledge of Android app design.))
- Unity (Unity Technologies, Game Design ,Advanced)
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is a designer and coding environment that many people use to make their programs. I also prefer Visual Studio because it's fun to design small programs. It is writen in C# and C++, two different languages.
Scratch
Scratch is a beginner's way into code. It uses blocks and treats them as if they were code being directly linked together. If anyone would want to start learning code, I would start with Scratch.
Tynker is a web app used to teach children the basics of coding, much like Scratch. It uses more advanced functions to move, set gravity and do little things like move when something on the video camera is moving.
Unity
Unity is the second leading game maker and my favorite. It is used by many game designers and is very powerful. It has a visual design aspect to it being helpful to see what you are doing. Many use it for that exact reason
App Inventor
App Inventor is a web app you can use to make Android apps for phones and tablets like the Samsung Galaxy or Asus tablets. You can use it to open a website like Google or my slide document. There are many things you can do with App Inventor that are very cool. I have two examples for it as well.
Unity Showcase: Bad Piggies
Bad Piggies is a mobile puzzle game made by, Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds and it's sequels. This game is played as the pigs in Angry Birds, who try to get the eggs from the birds. Unity was used in the making of this game.
Reference <Click Here>
What I want to learn
- I want to learn how to code in Unity to make a game
- I want to learn how to make a program in Visual Studio (It is very challenging to learn)
- I want to do more with App Inventor and learn all it has.
- I want to learn the coding languages that Visual Studio supports.
- Tynker is fairly new to me, so I want to learn more about it.
- I want to learn how to visually make different things
- It would be cool to learn Scratch if there was new thing for it.
- I want to write visually appealing websites with VS
- I want to make something useful and fun with any of the tools.
- I want to learn Visual Studio's languages this with someone. That would definitely be fun.
What I learned
- I learned how to use App Inventor better than before.
- I now know how to make visually appealing websites.
- I learned that building Android apps without App Inventor is still visual. The program I use to edit my apps has a visual designer in it. (Not App Inventor)
- I learned how to make an app that opens a web page with App Inventor.
- I learned how to use video sensors with Tynker
- I learned that moving objects in Tynker is the same as moving objects with Scratch.
- I learned that there is a side scrolling game maker online called Gamefroot that has a scripting system much like Scratch and Tynker
- I learned that the Hour of Code is also Block based (Excluding the JavaScript lessons)
- I learned that there are many more like scratch at this website: http://goo.gl/rdVmZk
- I learned how to make an object move when something on the video camera touches it. (Tynker)