Scratch
Scratch is a high-level, block-based visual programming
language and website aimed primarily at children as an educational
tool, with a target audience of ages 5 to 16. [11][12] Users can create
projects on the website using a block-like interface. Scratch was
conceived and designed through collaborative National Science
Foundation grants awarded to Mitchel Resnick and Yasmin Kafai.[13]
Scratch is developed by the MIT Media Lab and has been translated
into 70+ languages,[12] being used in most parts of the world.
Scratch is taught and used in after-school centers, schools, and
colleges, as well as other public knowledge institutions. As of 15
February 2023, community statistics on the language's official
website show more than 123 million projects shared by over 103
million users, and more than 95 million monthly website visits.
[14] Overall, more than 1.15 billion projects have been created in
total, with the site reaching its one billionth project on April 12,
2024.[citation needed]
Scratch takes its name from a technique used by disk jockeys called
"scratching", where vinyl records are clipped together and
manipulated on a turntable to produce different sound effects and
music. Like scratching, the website lets users mix together different
media (including graphics, sound, and other programs) in creative
ways by creating and "remixing" projects, like video
games, animations, music, and simulations.[15]
Scratch 3.0
User interface
A program to change the
background and make a sprite speak
The Scratch interface is divided into three main sections: a stage
area, block palette, and a coding area to place and arrange the
blocks into scripts that can be run by pressing the green flag or
clicking on the code itself. Users may also create their own code
blocks, which will appear in the "My Blocks" section.
The stage area features the results (e.g., animations, turtle
graphics, either in a small or normal size, with a full-screen option
also available) and all sprites' thumbnails being listed in the bottom
area. The stage uses x and y coordinates, with 0,0 being the stage
center.[16]
With a sprite selected at the bottom of the staging area, blocks of
code can be applied by dragging them from the block palette into
the coding area. The Costumes tab allows users to change the look
of the sprite with a vector and bitmap editor in order to create
various effects, including animation.[16] The Sounds tab allows
attaching sounds and music to a sprite.[17]
When creating sprites and also backgrounds, users can draw their
own sprites manually,[16] choose a sprite from the library, or upload
an image.[17]
The table below shows the categories of the programming blocks:
Block categories in Scratch
Category Notes
Motion Movements of sprites, like angles and directions.
Looks Controls the visuals of the sprite.
Sound Plays audio files and effects.
Events Event handlers and broadcasters.
Control Conditionals, loops, and cloning.
Interactions between sprites, the mouse pointer, and
Sensing
the backdrop.
Mathematical operators, conjunctions, and
Operators
comparisons.
Blocks to access and set variables. Cloud variables
Variables
are synced across all running versions of the project.
Lists Blocks to access and interact with lists.
User-defined functions, accessible as blocks. They can
My Blocks have inputs and have the option to run without a
screen refresh.
Extension Extra categories (e.g. Pen, Music) of blocks that can
s be added to a project at any time.
Offline editing
Four different scripts for the getting
started built-in tutorial A coded
example, using the ask block for the users' name, then responding
with it
An offline "Desktop Editor" for Scratch 3.0 is available for
Microsoft Windows 10 and above in the Microsoft Store, Apple's
macOS, ChromeOS, Android, and unofficially[a] in Linux, but Scratch
is working with open-source partners to support Linux in the future.
[18] This allows the creation and playing of Scratch programs offline.
Previous versions of the offline editor are also accessible.
Extensions
In Scratch, extensions add extra blocks and features that can be
used in projects. In Scratch 2.0, the extensions were all hardware-
based and Pen was a normal category. Software-based extensions
were added in Scratch 3.0, such as text-to-speech voices, along with
some new hardware-based extensions like the micro:bit. The
extensions are listed below.