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National Coding Week 2024
September 23 - September 29
What is National Coding Week?
Are you ready for National Coding Week 2024? Whether you recently discovered coding or are an experienced coder, there is so much to discover and see. This week is all about learning how coding is the backbone of our rapidly growing digital world and allows you to navigate through your favourite webpages, apps and much more.
Why is Coding Important?
Coding gives you an insight into the digital world and helps you make informed decisions about technology. It opens multiple doors of opportunities and allows you to be creative in how your webpage feels and looks while also controlling how it responds as users visit the page. As technology continues to develop and become integrated into our daily lives, it’s essential to understand how it works and how we can work along side it.
Are You Curious About Coding?
As National Coding Week is filled with everything coding, let’s dive deeper into the basics. Expanding your knowledge about coding never ends; there are multiple amazing beginner resources for you to explore. Scratch, Hour of Code, and W3School give exposure to kids in both a classroom and home environment.
What is Block coding?
Block Coding refers to a method of coding that is beginner friendly and uses graphical blocks to represent code concepts. It’s a great way for beginner coders to explore different languages and create some fun animations to better understand concepts through a fun and interactive way. Languages such as python are hard to understand but through resources like Scratch you are able to break down syntax (the order of how code should be organized), algorithms (the recipe or instructions the code follows to complete the task) and functions (a reusable block of code that performs a specific task).
Let’s talk about some languages
Similar to talking, coding is the language of technology; there are lots of different types and they all do different things within a system. The questions above used P5 JavaScript but let’s talk about some common coding languages.
Javascript
Javascript is one of the core languages used in creating any webpage or app. Developers are able to implement features such as animations, real-time updates, games and much more. While using Javascript you can create dynamic and interactive components on your application to make them more engaging and user-friendly.
HTML/CSS
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the other two core languages that work hand in hand with Javascript in creating both a visually pleasing and functional website or app. HTML is the skeleton of a webpage, it structures the content with heading, paragraphs, forms etc., while CSS is the style of your webpage; the colours, fonts, and layout. CSS allows you to show your creativity and differentiate your webpages from others.
Python
Python is one of the most well-known programming languages in the coding world. It’s used in web and software development, mathematics and system scripting. Unlike Javascript and HTML/CSS which are markup languages that have a visual outcome, Python works behind the scenes within the web application, ensuring complicated and large tasks such as database systems are simplified.
Breaking down some concepts
Understanding coding concepts can be confusing and difficult. We’re gonna show you some examples on why syntax, algorithms and functions are so important in coding. All the examples below are using the language P5 JavaScript.
Coding Question #1
Syntax refers to the order the code executes in. This is super important because a program is similar to a human reading a book. The sequence is reading from top to bottom or left to right. Let’s look at this question.
You want to make a loading screen for your game but there seems to be something wrong. Your display isn’t showing up but the code is written perfectly in your console. Can you spot the error? Hint: createCanvas
Answer #1
The createCanvas function was in the wrong order. Even though your code is written perfectly, the execution might be flawed. Always remember to check over your lines of code to check if everything is in the right order.
Coding Question #2
Algorithms are the recipes that help your program run properly, while functions are reusable sets of code that perform a specific function. As a coder you will input some information and the function will come up with a result or output. Let’s look at this question.
You want to code something that displays a word in the center of your screen. The function you want to use is called text(). text() takes in three inputs also known as parameters. What three inputs will you put in? Hint: Str is the word you want displayed, x and y are both numbers
Answer #2
Str: Hello, x: 250, y: 250 The word chosen was hello. The numbers can be any but if you want the word to be displayed in the middle of the screen you can use the values 250 and 250 to get this result.
Keep Exploring!
Now that you have had a taste of what the coding world has to offer, don’t hesitate to continue exploring and create your very own functional programs!
Why Do We Value Coding At KnowledgeFlow?
At KnowledgeFlow, National Coding Week holds great significance as digital skills are essential for developing and maintaining the cybersafety tools and educational materials on our platforms. Coding is deeply intertwined with digital media literacy and cybersafety. It helps individuals understand how algorithms shape the content they see on social media, promoting media literacy by enabling them to identify biased or misleading information. Additionally, coding knowledge empowers users to recognize how phishing attacks and malware function, enhancing their ability to detect suspicious links and emails, strengthening their cybersafety practices. By educating various demographics, including students and seniors, about digital safety through coding, we ensure they become better informed and develop more secure online behaviours.
Check out our resources
Video Content about People’s experience with learning how to code
- What is Coding? Coding & Computer Science Song
- PROGRAMMING for kids 👦 Basic concepts 💻 Part 1 (There’s also a part 2)
- Coding for Kids Explained | What is Coding | Why is Coding Important
