Have you ever asked yourself ‘are computers smarter than us?’ Well, they aren’t. A computer only works if a special language tells them what to do. That language is called coding.

Coding is a series of words and other doodads that create instructions for the computer to carry out. Embedded in that is more coding, and more coding, and even more!

This year for a starting unit, we’re learning to code. We are using an app called Swift Playgrounds to help us with that. Swift Playgrounds is a database of ‘mini games’ that teach you the basics of coding. I use the term ‘mini games’ very loosely because some of the stuff is really difficult. Our class is only doing ‘Learn to Code 1’, which has a huge spectrum of difficulty,and I’m not even finished it!

For example, the first one you have to complete looks something like this;

Swift Playgrounds; Issuing Commands

You have a few options on how to move Byte, your character, to make him collect the gem. That sounds pretty easy right? Well, it gets a lot harder.

In this playground, you had to break down some of the parts of the coding, into functions. I name my functions really weird names, so you probably shouldn’t do that. But it’s still the same concept.

For our first introduction into coding, our teachers taught us ‘The Hustle‘. It was a popular dance in the ’70s. We learned the different parts in different sections with differing names, just like the code. So now every time the teachers play the music, no matter what we’re doing, we have to get up and do the hustle. I once referred to it as “sequential torture”. But it made sense why we were doing it after a while.

Swift Playgrounds is a fun way to learn how to code. You can even choose you character;

I enjoy learning while using this app, and you probably do to. ‘Cause technology is the way of the future, so you should learn how it works now, so it doesn’t TAKE OVER THE WORLD!! MWA HA HA!!