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Coding has entered its decision-making era.
Until now, our instructions have been fairly bossy.
MOVE FORWARD
TURN LEFT
CLAP THREE TIMES
Do this. Then this. Then this. Very efficient.
But what happens when the computer needs to respond to what is happening around it?
What if the robot reaches an obstacle? What if the player catches the treasure? What if the Mika finds the biltong?
Suddenly, following the exact same instructions every time is not enough.
The program needs to make a decision.
That is where conditional statements come in.
So, what is a conditional statement?
So, what is a conditional statement?
A conditional statement tells a program to perform an action only when a particular condition is met. The simplest way to think about it is:
IF this happens → THEN do this
IF this happens → THEN do this
For example:
IF it is raining → THEN take an umbrella
The action only happens because the condition has been met.
No rain? No umbrella.
Unless you are extremely committed to carrying umbrellas.
You already use conditionals every day
You already use conditionals every day
Conditionals might sound like programming language, but we use this kind of thinking constantly.
IF the traffic light is red → THEN stop
IF the traffic light is red → THEN stop
IF your phone rings → THEN answer it
IF your phone rings → THEN answer it
IF Mika hears the fridge open → THEN appear immediately
IF Mika hears the fridge open → THEN appear immediately
The important thing is that there are two parts:
The condition
The condition
Something we check.
IF the light is red...
The action
The action
What happens when that condition is true.
...THEN stop.
The computer checks:
The computer checks:
Is the condition true?
If yes → perform the action.
If no → do not perform that action.
And just like that... our code can respond to what is happening.
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