TouchDevelop - App Creation

The Challenge:

Your challenge is to learn how to create your own app version with TouchDevelop. What kind of app will you create?

What You Will Learn

• To use TouchDevelop to create your own app

• How TouchDevelop uses tokens rather than characters to program on mobile devices

• About aspects of language such as events, pages, data, and records

• About the statistics and information collected for published scripts

Stuff You Will Need

• Touchdevelop

• Internet account such as email

• (optional) Tablet or mobile device

STEAM U Challenge Levels:

GREEN CIRCLE (1 PT.)

• Not possible if legitimate effort is made for full project length.

BLUE CIRCLE (2 PTS.) IN ADDITION TO ALL IN THE GREEN CIRCLE....

• • Received if parts of the Black Diamond Challenge are not met.

BLACK DIAMOND (3PTS) IN ADDITION TO ALL IN THE GREEN CIRCLE AND BLUE SQUARE...

• Choose ONE of the following ideas to create.

• Develop a Game

  • Create a unique game or app with TouchDevelop. Write a set of rules and then try to create events and behaviors to fulfill the rules. For example, can you write a program to kick a soccer ball or throw a Frisbee? What are the rules for making an object move through the air in a gradual arc?

  • Change a game or app you have created using blocks into one written with TouchDevelop tools. Review your work with, Scratch or Stencyl to get ideas.

• Solve Math Problems

  • Write a computer program to solve math problems and do your homework.

    • Complete the tutorial, quadratic equation solver.

    • Then, write a program to solve other math problems.

    • Can you write a program to solve another simple mathematical formula?

    • What about drawing triangles using the Pythagorean Theorem?

  • Take a topic in math you are currently studying and write a program for it. For example, create a program for converting fractions into a percent.

  • Write a graphing program. For example, if someone enters pairs of numbers, (0,1), (1, 2), (2, 3)…plot the points on a graph and draw a line between them.

• Write a Social App

  • Use TouchDevelop to collect votes, create a social network, or interact with people online. Practice with one of the existing tutorials and then create your own poll using a question important to you.

Challenge Resources:

Use the TouchDevelop website for tutorials and step-by-step guides

What You Should Already Know

Before beginning this Learning Launcher you should be familiar with TouchDevelop and the following:

• Rules, events, and behaviors

• Changing the background image on an application or game

• How to draw and add shapes to a screen image

• How to use loops to make coding efficient

• Introducing random events into a computer program

• How to provide the user with interactions and game play

• How to add sounds to a computer game or application

Need help? Review the Level 2 Learning Launcher Intermediate Coding. Like many websites, TouchDevelop changes often. Be prepared for some differences between this Learning Launcher and the website.

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