December 2017 Learn More Links

Code Your Legos

https://www.kidscodecs.com/code-your-legos/

The Lego Mindstorms Discovery Book

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-MINDSTORMS-EV3-Discovery-Book/dp/1593275323/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506329047&sr=8-2&keywords=ev3+programming+books

The Art of Lego Mindstorms EV3 Programming

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-MINDSTORMS-Programming-Full-Color/dp/1593275684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506329047&sr=8-1&keywords=ev3+programming+books

The Lego Mindstorms EV3 Idea Book

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ev3+programming+books&sprefix=ev3+program%2Caps%2C194&crid=25KLEYR0YKV17

Collection of online video tutorials

http://www.drgraeme.org/EV3/EV3.html

Build a Programming Language, Part III

https://www.kidscodecs.com/build-programming-language-part-iii/

Type coercion in JavaScript

https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS/blob/master/types%20&%20grammar/ch4.md

How type coercion gets weird

https://g00glen00b.be/javascript-coercion/

Goedel Numberings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del_numbering
http://www.goodmath.org/blog/2014/08/26/godel-numbering/

Beej’s Guide to C Programming

https://beej.us/guide/bgc/

Arrays in C

https://beej.us/guide/bgc/output/html/multipage/arrays.html

Pointers in C

https://beej.us/guide/bgc/output/html/multipage/pointers.html

The book on C Programming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Programming_Language

A novice friendly book on Common Lisp

http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/

Rubber Duck Debugging

https://www.kidscodecs.com/rubber-duck-debugging/

Rubber duck debugging

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
https://rubberduckdebugging.com/

Why Rubber Duck Debugging is the best way to debug your code

https://www.zenhub.com/blog/why-rubber-duck-debugging-is-the-best-way-to-debug-your-code/
http://lists.ethernal.org/oldarchives/cantlug-0211/msg00174.html

The Rubber Duck Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huOPVqztPdc

Rubber Duck Problem Solving

https://blog.codinghorror.com/rubber-duck-problem-solving/

Ask the Duck

http://hwrnmnbsol.livejournal.com/148664.html

How a Rubber Duck Taught Me to Be a Better Programmer

https://blog.wsol.com/how-a-rubber-duck-taught-me-to-be-a-better-programmer

Click and Say ‘Om’!

https://www.kidscodecs.com/css-zen-garden/

CSS / HTML Introduction

https://www.codecademy.com/en/tracks/htmlcss
https://www.w3schools.com/css/
https://www.kidscodecs.com/html-coding-for-beginners/

History of Web Design

http://blog.froont.com/brief-history-of-web-design-for-designers/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DQH3xc1JfE

Visit a Reproduction of the First Website

http://line-mode.cern.ch/www/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

Web Browser History

https://www.kidscodecs.com/web-browser-history/

History of Game Controllers

https://www.kidscodecs.com/history-game-controllers/

A detailed history of video game controllers:

http://www.shortlist.com/tech/gaming/history-of-the-video-game-controller#
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/evolution-of-home-video-game-consoles-1967-2011/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdaS6TfiFas&index=7&list=PLyTa9gYuPziIoUIVLdfHbRkUvCpDgChLs

Demonstration of PDP-1 and Spacewar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bzWnaH-0sg

Demonstration of Pong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmzH4E3x1_g

Python Guess the Number Game

https://www.kidscodecs.com/python-guess-the-number/

Binary Search from Khan Academy

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-science/algorithms/binary-search/a/binary-search

Binary Search (simple)

http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/bi/Binary_search

Binary Search (techncial)

https://www.topcoder.com/community/data-science/data-science-tutorials/binary-search/

Scan the World

https://www.kidscodecs.com/scan-the-world/

About Scan the World

https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Scan%20The%20World
https://www.myminifactory.com/
https://www.myminifactory.com/scantheworld/#home
https://www.myminifactory.com/pages/how-to-scan

3D Models of Eastern Island Heads

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/moai-head-on-easter-island-2025

Rail Fence Cipher

https://www.kidscodecs.com/codes-fence-cipher/

Rail Fence Ciphers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_fence_cipher

Transposition Ciphers

https://learncryptography.com/classical-encryption/transposition-ciphers

Rail Fence Cipher Auto-Decoder

http://www.dcode.fr/rail-fence-cipher

Scratch Multimodal Games

https://www.kidscodecs.com/scratch-multimodal-games/

Scratch example for changing scenes

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/170371110/

Scratch example for a simple platformer

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/170440272/

Scratch example of an arcade shooter

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/169474187/

Using sensing blocks instead of events to handle multiple key presses

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/13750/?page=1

Geometry Wars, a twin stick shooter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry_Wars:_Retro_Evolved

Ideas for games in Scratch

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/16229/

Shoot’em ups

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_%27em_up

Metroidvania

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroidvania

Woof.js Framework

http://woofjs.com

The Nether and the End

https://www.kidscodecs.com/minecraft-end-games/

Surviving in the Nether

https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Nether_survival

Information of Blazes

https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Blaze

Information on Enderman

https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enderman

Ender Dragon Strategies

https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Defeating_the_ender_dragon

10 FREE Web Developer Tools

https://www.kidscodecs.com/10-web-tools/

Link Sleuth

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

HT Track

https://www.httrack.com/

Trello

https://trello.com/

Slack

https://slack.com/

Telerik converter

http://converter.telerik.com/

Built with

http://builtwith.com/

Can I use

http://caniuse.com/

WebPageTest

http://www.webpagetest.org/

LINQPad

http://www.linqpad.net/

Lorempixel

http://lorempixel.com/

Kotlin: A New(-ish) Kid on the Block

https://www.kidscodecs.com/kotlin/

Explanations from the Kotlin team

https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/comparison-to-java.html

A description of different languages that compile to the JVM

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/architect-languages-2266279.html

The Kotlin Koans, an online tutorial

http://try.kotlinlang.org/koans

The IntelliJ IDE

https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/

Essay about Kotlin from an engineer at Pinterest

https://medium.com/@Pinterest_Engineering/the-case-against-kotlin-2c574cb87953

Kotlin example code

https://github.com/clarissalittler/kotlin-examples

Create a Box with Round Edges

https://www.kidscodecs.com/sketchup-build-box-round-corners/

SketchUp ‘Getting Started’ Video

https://www.sketchup.com/learn/videos/826

Self-Paced Tutorials

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/collection/36e1fa0d054a15eecc725c514c21d975/Self-paced-Tutorials

SketchUp 3D for Beginners

https://www.kidscodecs.com/3d-sketchup-for-beginners/

SketchUp Christmas Tree

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/68908f59-3f6b-4d01-808c-63a8b0df2b4b/Christmas-Tree

It’s YOUR Write!

https://www.kidscodecs.com/twine-interactive-fiction-games/

The Photopia entry on the Interactive Fiction Database

http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ju778uv5xaswnlpl

Ren’Py homepage

https://www.renpy.org/

Main Twine site

http://twinery.org/

Dan Cox video tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXuD3kyVEr5tlic4SRe6ZG-R9OyS1T4d

Vegetarian Zombie tutorials

https://youtu.be/1jukyU4EK2M?list=PLFgjYYTq6xyjBtXJTvEaBTVUWxirY6q24

Offical Twine guides

http://twinery.org/wiki/twine2:guide

Official Harlowe 2 documenation

https://twine2.neocities.org/

Twine game samples

https://clarissalittler.github.io/interactive-fiction/TwineDemo.html

Inventory systems in Twine

https://gersande.com/blog/designing-inventories-in-twine-2-with-the-built-in-harlowe-macros/

MicroPython Introduction Tutorial

http://microbit-micropython.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tutorials/introduction.html

See the Light!

https://www.kidscodecs.com/microbit-light-art/

What are NeoPixel LEDs?

https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/what-are-neopixel-leds.html
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/the-magic-of-neopixels

More about the BBC micro:bit

https://www.kidscodecs.com/resources/microbit/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4hVG2Br1W1LKCmw8nSm9WnQ/the-bbc-micro-bit

Author

  • Tim Slavin

    Tim is an award-winning writer and technologist who enjoys teaching tech to non-technical people. He has many years experience with web sites and applications in business, technical, and creative roles. He and his wife have two kids, now teenagers, who are mad about video games.

Also In The December 2017 Issue

Learn some nifty coding tricks while creating a Formula EV3 Race Car.

With binary search, you don’t have to be a mind reader to beat this simple coding activity.

Controllers have come a long way in 50 years. Let’s appreciate the bulky, awkward ancestors that led us here!

Take your Scratch games to the next level by adding multiple modes with multiple sprites.

Let the CSS Zen Gardens wow you with variety and elegance. Making a pretty website isn’t so complicated after all!

An introduction to a hip new alternative to Java. It’s all the rage in android development!

Resources to transform you into a web virtuoso, from messaging apps to testers to code converters.

New treasures and new enemies await in two unique, dangerous realms.

Create your own 3D digital museum and learn how you can help preserve cultural artifacts.

Interesting stories about computer science, software programming, and technology for December 2017.

Add data types to your new programming language in this third installment of the series.

Links from the bottom of all the December 2017 articles, collected in one place for you to print, share, or bookmark.