Scratch Concepts - ScratchCatalà

Main Concepts

Scratcher

A Scratcher is the name given to anyone who uses Scratch, and is a registered user on the Scratch Website.

Blocks

Blocks are puzzle-piece shapes that are used to create code in Scratch. The blocks connect to each other like a jigsaw puzzle, where each data type (event, command, reported value, reported boolean, or script end) has its own shape and a specially shaped slot for it to be inserted into — this prevents syntax errors. Series of connected blocks are called scripts.

Script

A script is a collection or stack of blocks that all interlock with one another. The blocks and their order are very important, as they determine how sprites interact with each other and the backdrop. Sometimes, comments are attached to scripts to explain what certain blocks do and what the script's purpose is.

Sprite

Sprites, either user-created, uploaded, or found in the sprites library, are the objects that perform actions in a project. While the Stage can also be programmed in a project, most projects have at least one sprite as well because only sprites can move.

Project

A project is a creation made in the Scratch Program. A project can be about anything, from music to animations, art, games, and simulations. They have been boiled down into six main genres, of which the most common are games and animations. | ​Project Types

Studio

A studio is a place where Scratchers can put multiple projects into an accessible group.

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Scratch User Interface (1/5)

User Interface

The Scratch user interface is the environment of the Scratch program which divides the screen into several panes: on the left is the stage and sprite pane, in the middle the block palette, and on the right the scripts area. The block palette has code fragments (called blocks) that can be dragged onto the scripts area to make programs (called projects).

Stage

The Stage is the term for the background of the project, but can have scripts, backdrops (costumes), and sounds, similar to a sprite. It has some restrictions of sprite functionality, such as motion and size blocks.

No sprites can move behind the Stage — the Stage is always at the back layer.

Block Palette

The block palette is an area of the graphical user interface located between the stage, sprite pane and scripting area. It is here that categories of blocks are color-coded and can be clicked to bring up a new set of blocks that can be dragged into the scripting area to program a sprite or the stage. The blocks are located underneath the block categories, and if they overflow the page vertically a scroll bar will be present that does not scroll the block categories but only the blocks themselves.

Scripts Area

The Scripts Area is the area on the right side of the project editor where scripts are assembled. It can be accessed from both the Stage and from sprites, although the Stage and each sprite all have separate scripts areas and scripts. It is a gray pinstriped rectangle, whose size can be changed by clicking the buttons next to the button to toggle.

Sprite Pane

The sprite pane is an area of the graphical user interface of the Scratch program where all sprites present in a project can be easily accessed to modify or inspect. It is a white area located beneath the Stage with the label "Sprites" in its grey header.

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Scratch User Interface (2/5)

Sprite Info Pane

The Sprite Pane includes info about the selected sprite as well as a few tools for manipulating the sprite. It is accessed by clicking the blue "i" on a sprite in the sprites pane.

Costume Pane

The Costume Pane contains a list of costumes of the selected sprite.

Costume

A costume is one out of possibly many "frames" or alternate appearances of a sprite.

Sprites can change their look to any of its costumes. They can be named, edited, created, and deleted, but every sprite must have at least one costume. One of the most common uses of costumes is to make an animation for a game or other project.

Backdrop

A backdrop is one out of possibly many frames, or backgrounds, of the Stage. It is located in the backdrops library. The Stage can change its look to any of its backdrops. They can be named, edited, created, and deleted, but the Stage must always have at least one backdrop; otherwise, the Stage would not have an image to resemble.

Paint Editor

The Scratch Paint Editor is Scratch's built-in image editor. The Paint Editor utilizes both vector graphics and raster graphics (bitmap graphics). Vector graphics, unlike bitmaps, store the image as rules rather than an array of pixels, for more smooth images in any stage size.

Sounds Pane

The Sounds Pane contains a list of audio clips.

Sound

A sound is an item which one hears that can be played in a Scratch project, available by importing, Scratch's built-in sound library, or recording. Sounds are played by using the sound blocks, which control a sound's volume, tempo, and more. All sounds in Scratch are played in mono.

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Scratch User Interface (3/5)

Green Flag

The Green Flag is a programming feature that, when clicked, will start all scripts in that project that are hatted with the When Green Flag Clicked block. More simply, this block starts the project.

Stop Sign

The Stop Sign is a button that when clicked stops the running project immediately.

It can be clicked at any time during a project.

Comment

Comments in the Scratch program are adjustable textboxes that can be attached to blocks, or left floating. To add a comment to a block, right click it, and in the dropdown menu choose "add comment". This will add a yellow box in which you can type your comment.

Full Screen

When the Go Full Screen button is clicked, it goes into full screen, which almost fits the computer's resolution, through displaying tools; and when the Exit Full Screen button is clicked, the resolution adjusts back to normal size.

Small Stage Layout

Small Stage Layout is a size option for the stage in the project editor. It lowers the stage's resolution to 240x180 pixels, half of the normal size.

Turbo Mode

In turbo mode, all scripts run as fast as possible. This is very useful for speeding up mathematical projects, however makes features such as graphic effects lag quite a bit. Shift-click the Green Flag or select from Edit menu.

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Scratch User Interface (4/5)

Creation

A project is created in the Scratch program's editor, which is the interface for designing and programming a project on Scratch. Projects can be shared from the Scratch 2.0 online editor, the offline editor, or Scratch 1.4. To access the online editor, click "Create" on the navigation bar at the left top of the website.

Name

To change the name of a project in the editor or on the viewer, click the text box above the player frame and edit the text. A new project has the name "Untitled".

Sharing

Once a project has been created, it can be shared with the world. The method of sharing depends on what version of Scratch one is using and where the project is being shared from: Scratch 2.0 online editor — log in in to your Scratch account and click "Share" in the top-right Scratch 2.0 offline editor — access File > Share to website, and fill in and submit the designated information Project page — near the top of the page, click "Share", which is in a rectangular box

Profile

A profile page is a Scratcher's user page. It can be accessed by clicking on the "profile page" link in the dropdown on the toolbar if a Scratcher is logged in, or by clicking on the Scratcher's username next to any project, comment, or forum post by them.

My Stuff

The My Stuff page is the project manager. From it, a Scratcher can control and view various aspects of projects and studios. Projects can be created, shared, edited, unshared, and deleted. Studios can be created, and projects can be added to them.

There are five tabs in the studio sidebar: All Projects, Shared Projects, Unshared Projects, My Studios, and Trash. After the title, it has the amount of projects/studios in the view in parentheses.

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Scratch User Interface (5/5)

See Inside

See Inside is a button which allows Scratchers to view the programming of a project without having to go through the effort of downloading the project. It also allows users to edit projects, and then remix them if they are not the original creator.

See Project Page

When the project editor is shown, this button becomes "See Project Page", and will take the user back to the project viewing page.

Project Notes

To the right of a project are the project notes and credits. This contains information about the project. If a user is logged in, they can edit the notes for their own projects if they wish. Above the notes and credits are the instructions. The instructions often explain how the project works and how it is operated by the user.

Remix

A remix is a modified and shared version of an uploaded project. Once shared, the project will display a little notice reading "Thanks to [creator of the original project]", with a link to the original.

Remix Trees

The Remix Tree is a way of showing an extensive hierarchy of remixes originating from one project. To access the remix tree of a project, click the "tree" button at the rightmost edge of the project statistics bar.

Backpack

The backpack is a feature of the Scratch 2.0 project editor that allows users to drag and drop costumes, sprites, sounds, and scripts from other projects into it and then drag and drop them easily into their project. This simplifies remixing.

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Blocks (1/2)

Block Categories

Blocks are categorized based on their functionality, and blocks within the same category share the same color.

Motion Blocks

Motion blocks deal with the movement of sprites. They relate mainly to the x and y position and direction of the sprite, as almost all the blocks correspond to them. The Stage does not contain any Motion blocks since it is a still object.

- 14 Motion Stack blocks - 3 Motion Reporter blocks

Event Blocks

Events blocks are related to various triggers in a project, or when one part signals another to run. The Events blocks used to be part of the Control category prior to Scratch 2.0. The "Events" category consists mostly of hat blocks.

- 6 Event Hat blocks - 2 Event Stack blocks

Looks Blocks

Looks blocks are related to the appearance of sprites and the stage. Some of the functionalities are changing costumes and applying graphic effects.

- 18 Looks Stack blocks - 4 Looks Reporter blocks

Control Blocks

Control blocks run the basic flow of a project in a desired fashion, whether it be organized or unexpected. They provide functions for looping various blocks and scripts. They "control" the project and enhance its running.

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Sound Blocks

Sound blocks are related to playing various sounds, whether they be MIDI notes or saved sounds.

- 11 Sound Stack blocks - 2 Sound Reporter blocks

Sensing Blocks

Sensing blocks associate with sprites and the stage detecting conditions. For example, sensing blocks can be used to detect when one sprite touches another. They consist of many booleans and can work with Control blocks to stabilize a project' a flow.

- 4 Sensing Stack blocks - 5 Sensing Boolean blocks - 11 Sensing Reporter blocks

1 Control Hat block 3 Control Stack blocks 5 Control C blocks 2 Control Cap blocks

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Blocks (2/2)

Pen Blocks

Pen blocks are related to a sprite's pen, which is a feature that allows a line to be to be drawn in accordance with a sprite's location (the line or "pen" is always at the costume center of the sprite it is in). The blocks are associated with turning the pen on and off, stamping a sprite's image onto the stage, and adjusting the various appearance values of the pen.

- 11 Pen Stack blocks

Operators Blocks

Operators blocks, originally called "Numbers" blocks, deal with many mathematical functions within a project. They are a green color and provide the capabilities of simple to complex mathematical operations. "Operators" also contains blocks for modifying strings and implementing them into various uses.

There are some boolean blocks, too, in which some are related to mathematical outputs, while others are used for adjoining other booleans into one or a different output condition.

- 6 Operators Boolean blocks - 11 Operator Reporter blocks

Data Blocks

Data blocks include two subcategories, Variables and Lists, but both are related to storing and accessing data. Prior to Scratch 2.0, this category was called "Variables". Data blocks are used for storing information, such as a score in a project, and using it in scripting and other beneficial purposes.

Variables Blocks

A variable is a changeable value recorded in Scratch's memory. Variables can only hold one value at a time, unlike lists. These values can be either numbers or strings — any text.

- 4 Variables Stack blocks - 1 Variables Reporter block

List Blocks

A list (also called an array in other programming languages) is a tool that can be used to store multiple pieces of information at once. It can also be defined as a variable containing multiple other variables. A list consists of a numbers paired with items. Each item can be retrieved by its paired number. List blocks can be found in the Data blocks palette.

- 6 List Stack blocks - 3 List Reporter blocks - 1 List Boolean block

More Blocks

More blocks are blocks that hold custom procedures for a selected sprite. The blocks are useful for running a script without screen refresh and organization of the scripts.

- 1 Hat block in More Blocks - 1 Stack block in More Blocks

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Block Shapes

Hat Block

A Hat Block, is a block that is designed to start a script. They are shaped with a rounded top and a bump at the bottom — this is so you can only place blocks below them.

Stack Block

Stack blocks are the blocks that perform the main commands. They are shaped with a notch at the top and a bump on the bottom — this is so blocks can be placed above and below them.

Boolean blocks

A Boolean block is an elongated hexagonal block shaped after the boolean elements in flowcharts. A boolean block contains a condition. When the block is invoked, it acts as a reporter block, reporting "true" or "false" string values or the numbers "1" and "0" depending on their usage in a script.

Reporter blocks

A reporter block is a block that contains a value. These blocks can contain anything, from numbers to strings. Boolean Blocks are a special form of reporter blocks that report either "true" or "false". To quickly view the value of a reporter, simply click it in the editor and a bubble will display the value.

C blocks

A C block is a block that is shaped like a "C", so other blocks can fit inside it. These blocks perform the conditions and loops.

Cap blocks

A Cap block is a block that is designed to stop a script or project from running, cancelling unwanted activity before it can start. As Cap blocks are designed to stop a script or project, their bottom is smooth; no blocks can be placed under them, as there is no need.

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