1.1 Discovery

Discovery:

Computers follow directions that humans give them.  Really!  I know, maybe you've had the frustrating experience of trying (or failing) to get a computer to do what you want.  You've probably asked yourself, "Why can't it just do what I want!?!?!"

The truth is, computers do exactly what we tell them to do.  They are just much pickier about interpreting what we say than most people understand.  Through the materials presented here, our goal is to help you discover and explore how computers process the instructions we give them.  

By using a simple programming language called Alice you will get the chance to direct the computer very specifically. Alice won't let you tell a computer how to graph some numbers or how to search the web or develop an App.  But it will let you tell a story by making an "animated movie" or a "video game" (an interactive animation).  Alice is simpler than other ways of controlling a computer -- but the ways it works underlies all the more complex applications or games you use on the computer.  By learning how Alice works, you will be able to "see" how other computing programs, applications and tools you use work -- or at least start to.

Enough words.  Let's get started.  Watch this short video -- it was created by writing a small program in Alice.

Now watch this second video:

 In the Alice programming language, like in other programming languages that give directions to the computer, two ways we can tell the computer to perform a list of steps are either in order or together.

There is a key difference between the two dances.  

[Q 1.1.1]: How is the first video different from the second video -- you will probably want to run the two videos again? 

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