Learn to Program with Phrogram! (Digital Short Cut): A Guide to Learning Through Game Programming Using the Latest Version of Kids Programming Language

This is the eBook version of the printed book. "This guide will quickly and easily walk complete beginners through creating their first simple games using Phrogram. The material is friendly and approachable to the young and to the technologically timid alike." --Alfred Thompson, Academic Relations Manager, Microsoft Corporation Different programming languages give you different ways to tell your computer what to do. If you are just starting to program, or even if you are an experienced programmer who likes the idea of writing programs more easily, Phrogram offers you several important advantages: Phrogram makes it easy and fun to learn programming. Phrogram is "plain language"--that is, it uses descriptive, intuitive names, and it keeps special formatting and strange language keywords to an absolute minimum. Unlike other easy-to-learn languages, Phrogram is similar to the tools that are used by professional programmers today. Phrogram is the easiest way to do real software development--whether or not you are a beginning programmer. This is especially true if you want to create a game or graphical program, although you can design just about any kind of program with Phrogram. And you will find it quicker, more efficient, and easier to do this in Phrogram than in any other language, because that is what Phrogram was specifically and carefully designed to do. If you decide to move on to professional programming, Phrogram prepares you well for widely used professional languages like Java, C#, or Visual Basic. Phrogram provides a complete programming environment that is similar to these languages, but it is much easier to master, and a lot more fun to learn and use. What This Short Cut Covers 3 Introduction 4 Section 1: Typing and Running Your First Program in Phrogram 9 Section 2: How Your First Program Works 19 Section 3: Moving Your UFO on the Screen 30 Section 4: Bouncing Your UFO Around the Screen 44 Section 5: Keyboard Control of Your UFO 60 Section 6: Organize Your Program as It Grows 67 Section 7: UFO Escape! Your First Complete Game! 73 Section 8: Bonus Game: Pong! 95 Appendix A: Phrogram Language Examples 99 Appendix B: Glossary of Programming Terms 105 About the Authors 108

Table of Contents:
What This Short Cut Covers 3 Introduction 4 Section 1: Typing and Running Your First Program in Phrogram 9 Section 2: How Your First Program Works 19 Section 3: Moving Your UFO on the Screen 30 Section 4: Bouncing Your UFO Around the Screen 44 Section 5: Keyboard Control of Your UFO 60 Section 6: Organize Your Program as It Grows 67 Section 7: UFO Escape! Your First Complete Game! 73 Section 8: Bonus Game: Pong! 95 Appendix A: Phrogram Language Examples 99 Appendix B: Glossary of Programming Terms 105 About the Authors 108

About the Author :
Jon Schwartz is one of the four cofounders of The Phrogram Company, a spin-off from his consultancy, Morrison Schwartz. He has been self-employed for about half his career, and has also worked for companies large and small, including Microsoft Corporation and IBM. Jon started programming in high school, creating games in BASIC on precursors to the PC. Phrogram--and this short cut--are inspired by that memory, and make it even easier and more fun today for beginning or hobbyist programmers to create their own games. Walt Morrison is one of the four cofounders of The Phrogram Company, a spin-off from his consultancy, Morrison Schwartz. In high school he helped a teacher design and build circuitry for electronic organs, and later began writing programs for the very first microprocessors. Walt learned to program in Assembler for the Z80 and remembers the early days of hobby computing on machines like the Commodore 64 and the TRS80. Experiencing just how simple and fun programming could be for a novice is what lead to the creation of Phrogram with his coworkers. David Witus is one of the four cofounders of The Phrogram Company. David has been an early adopter of computers since he borrowed a Commodore 65 to write a term paper in college over winter break. He has been using computers to do useful things ever since. David found his way into the technology world in 1993, when he joined Microsoft Corporation as an attorney. Since 2003, he has been involved in several start-up businesses. David put his non-technical perspective to work in helping write the first several sections of this short cut, and is thrilled to be part of an effort that makes it easier to learn real programming.