Unit 2: Variables & Simple Methods
Bitsbox Coding Project Books are perfect for classrooms, libraries, maker spaces, after-school programs, and other groups of students. Unit 2: Variables & Simple Methods introduces the use of placeholders for values and making code easier to change.
Preorder today! Units 1-3 ship September 1, 2019.
"Bitsbox has been great over the last 12 months... we used it in several of our library programs and it helped us start our Coding Club, which might be the first to start in a Tribal Library!!!" Melanie Toledo, Arizona
What's in the Coding Project Books?
Each book introduces a new fundamental computer science concept, with subsequent books spiraling back to previously-seen concepts and coding commands. Each set of books includes a unit-specific Educator's Guide with line-by-line code explanations, challenge solutions, and journaling suggestions for each app project.
Unit 2: Variables & Simple Methods introduces the use of placeholders for values and making code easier to change. The apps in Unit 2 illustrate the use of variables to store numbers, strings, booleans, and Bitsbox stamp objects. These projects also introduce the Bitsbox move, rotate, and size commands.
This book includes 10 open-ended projects, divided into 3 project types:
How Do I? Apps
These examples answer common student questions about coding their own apps.
- Invaders From Space | 4 lines of code
How do I move stamps to different places? - Black Hole Blues | 5 lines of code
How do I make a stamp disappear into a black hole? - The Lonesome Yeti | 6 lines of code
How do I make a stamp appear on the bottom half of the screen at a random size?
Project Apps
These examples provide the code needed to build each app, along with challenges that enhance their understanding of the material.
- Getting Started Mini Apps | 3 + 4 + 3 lines of code
These three super-short examples lay out the basics of using the text, .move, .rotate, and .size commands. - Mars Needs Milk | 14 lines of code in 2 code sections
Tap tap tap to suck cows into your flying saucer! - Bedbug Bedlam | 12 lines of code in 1 code section
Pop the never-ending bedbugs before they take over! - Burnie the Artbot | 12 lines of code in 1 code section
Draw with Burnie's super hot laser! - Castle Defender | 15 lines of code in 3 code sections
Create a castle to defend from the evil robot.
Challenge Apps
No code provided! These examples challenge students to code an app based only on an image and a description of the final product.
- Draw with Droids | 6 lines of code (as assigned)
Haven't you always wanted to paint a masterpiece with tiny bots? - Welcome to the Wormhole | 11 lines of code (as assigned)
Tap to send millions of giant-headed robots into the next dimension!
Preorder today! Units 1-3 ship September 1, 2019.
"My students love to Bitsbox, as a technology teacher I do not assign homework, but I have a group of students begging me to take home extra Bitsbox coding." Alexa Grice, USA
