2. Getting Comfortable with the Scratch Development Environment

To become an effective Scratch programmer, you need to become intimately familiar with its integrated development environment, or IDE. In this chapter, you will learn about the stage on which applications execute and the sprite list that Scratch uses to display and organize sprites used in your applications. You will also learn how to work with editors that create scripts, costumes, and sound effects. You will also learn all about Scratch’s paint program, which you can use to create your own custom graphics files. By the time you have completed this chapter, you will have a solid understanding of all of the features and capabilities of the Scratch IDE and will be ready to begin using it to create your own Scratch application projects.

An overview of the major topics covered in this chapter includes:

• How to work with menu and toolbar buttons

• How to add, remove, and modify the sprites that make up your Scratch applications

• An explanation of the coordinates system used to control sprite placements on the stage

• How to edit and modify scripts, costumes, and sounds

• How to create new sprites using Scratch’s built-in Paint Editor