Introduction to Part zero

About the series

Robo teaches programming is a six-part double-trilogy! We start slowly, introducing you to basic programming concepts with a focus on graphical applications. In the later parts of the series, we introduce you to some more advanced concepts that are fundamental to computer science.

Intended audience

The series is meant to be used in undergraduate college courses, although the books can be used in a high school setting or by anyone else with an interest in programming. Part zero is meant to be used in a CS0-style course; parts one and two for CS1; parts three and four for CS2.

Titles in the series

Part zero: A history of video games (“The red book.” That’s this book!)
Part zero mark II: Time to type! (“The orange book.”)
Part one: The basics (“The yellow book.”)
Part two: Beyond the basics and introduction to OOP (“The green book.”)
Part three: Advanced OOP (“The blue book.”)
Part four: Introduction to data structures and algorithms (“The purple book.”)

About the book

The full name of this book is Robo teaches programming part zero: A history of video games. That is a lot to say and a lot to type! So, for simplicity, I affectionately call this book “the red book.”

In the red book, we start gently and get our feet wet early in a great environment: Microsoft MakeCode Arcade. We begin by exploring an existing game within the environment. By the end of the first chapter, you will have created your first masterpiece! We use the Blocks interface throughout this prelude, yet we learn to create some pretty sophisticated programs. Throughout the book, we also stroll through the history of video games to give our projects some additional context.

History of video games

We study and create a lot of video games in this book. We use the history of video games in this book to give some context to the skills that we build. In each chapter, we look at the story behind a video game or platform that is relevant to the skills presented. Those stories will be presented in “aside” boxes like this one.

Why video games?

When I was learning to write computer programs, some of the first programs that I wrote were games. Even now, when I am learning a new programming language, I often use simple games to help me learn the language. I also use video games and board games as diversions. I play video games on a console, on a PC, and on mobile devices. I play board games, party games, and video games with friends and family. I also create games as a diversion. Writing these games helps to keep my programming skills sharp, and often I use them as a way to learn new skills. With creating games, I’ve learned the more obvious skills, like adding graphics to my programs and moving them around on the screen. I’ve also learned how to use databases and other data files when writing games, along with other skills that you may not associate with games.

Since I started writing this book, I’ve written a lot more games! You’ll get to see some of them as we travel on this journey together.

As a computer programmer, I am not alone in my love of games. But, why are many computer programmers fascinated with games? I’ve heard several explanations for this, but this quote from Hennessey and McGowan’s The comic book story of video games resonates the best with me, where they discuss that computer games have been around since the very beginning.

The first slate of video games all came about as explorations into the capabilities of this unproved frontier…. One such game was draughts (“checkers” in North America), realized in 1951 in Manchester, England. The computer that ran draughts–the von Neumann architecture-based Ferranti Mark I had its programs coded on and loaded in via hole-punched paper tape…. The very existence of these games sort of goes against the grain of what computing was first supposed to be about…. Yet many programmers kept returning to making–and playing–games. Often anyone daring this felt themselves placed on the wrong side of a “cultural divide” in computing. But games proved to be elegant and useful metaphors for the very aspects of life that computing advocates wanted to influence.¹

Prior knowledge

You do not need any prior knowledge of computer programming to learn from this book. In fact, if you have no prior knowledge of programming, then that is great! This book is designed for you!

You do need to have some basic knowledge of how to use your computer. Specifically, you should know how to do the following things:

You should understand how to right-click (also known as opposite-click) on an object with your mouse.
You should know how to drag and drop items.
You should understand the basic locations in your file system and the basic operations on files.
- You should know how to find the documents that you create, whether they are stored on your desktop, in a Documents folder, or elsewhere in your file system.
- You should know where downloaded files are stored on your computer.
- You should know how to copy files and how to move files on your computer.
You should know the basics of browsing the Internet with your web browser.
You should know the purpose of basic components of a computer system, including hardware, software, RAM, and CPU.

As long as you have those basic skills, you will get along just fine with this book!

Book web site and link codes

Throughout this book, I refer to link codes when referring to Internet resources. I have done this for simplicity. The codes are easier to type compared to lengthy URLs, and they can be updated in the event that a URL changes.

You can use the codes in a few ways. The easiest way is to use the book’s website. Open the following URL in your favorite web browser:

https://books.robotech.app

Click on the book cover to get to the support page for this book. You can enter link codes on this page. Feel free to add this page to your web browser’s bookmarks or favorites.

Another way to use the link codes is to add the link code to this book’s support URL. For example, to use the link code B-7, you could enter this URL in your favorite browser:

https://books.robotech.app/part-zero/B-7

The last way to use the link codes is to look them up in the master list of codes for this book. You can see all of the book’s codes and their URLs here:

https://books.robotech.app/part-zero/list-all

Up next

Hello, world! Introducing MakeCode Arcade