Review Detail

This book starts, in fact, with detailed instructions for going to the web site and getting started, not matter what kind of device you might have. Clear text, plenty of white space (well, cream), and screen shots, accompanied by notes that are clearly labeled, make this very helpful for learners who struggle to flip back and forth between screens. Working with this book alongside a device, and being able to flip back and forth, makes it so much easier to use the website.

I especially liked how the elements of the design pages were set up and explained. The App Inventor, which admittedly I have not tried to use, seems to be a bit more sophisticated than a typical drag-and-drop system, but still has some of the ease of that format. The coding blocks are broken into categories,and it's possible to add code without memorizing the language, but is a bit more sophisticated when it comes to choosing functions, which I really appreciated. This makes it quicker, but allows more attention to detail, like using the WYSIWYG "compose" function of a platform like Blogger while being able to switch to the HTML format. There's even a "show warning" button, which can be hugely illuminative when things aren't working.

It's easier to learn things by putting concepts into practice, and there are seven different projects to choose from, including "Hello, It's Me!" and a Translation App. I was absolutely tickled to find "My Piano", since I spent much of the winter of 1979 coding my oboe solo in BASIC on the TRS-80 my family got for Christmas!

App chapters are interspersed with interviews with different kids who code, and it's fascinating to see how children around the world use app creation to address problems that their communities might be facing, like water purity, locating potholes or school buses, and cleaning up vandalized areas. I liked that these biographies addressed the challenges that the coders faced, as well as the successes they had.