Getting Help
The development of good debugging skills is an absolute requirement for any serious programmer. However, no matter how good you may be at debugging, there are going to be times when you may need additional help in finding the answer to a particular problem or challenge. Fortunately, there are a number of resources that you can turn to for assistance, both within Scratch and online, as discussed in the following sections.
Referring to Scratch’s Online Help
One source of help that you can turn to with the click of a button is the Scratch Help web page, which you can access by clicking on the Want Help? button located at the top of the Scratch IDE. When clicked, Scratch opens your default browser and loads the web page shown in Figure 15.4.
On this web page you will find links to a number of helpful resources, including links that let you open Scratch’s Getting Started and Reference Guide PDF manuals as well as its support page. The support page contains additional links to online videos, Scratch Cards, and other information. Also available on the web page is a link labeled Help Screens, which when clicked displays a listing of help screens, as shown in Figure 15.5, each of which is designed to teach you how to work with an individual Scratch code block.
Figure 15.5. Using the Help Screen links, you can quickly view help information for all of Scratch’s code blocks.
The help screens are organized by category. Using links provides at the top of the web page, you can jump to specific categories of help screens.
Getting Help for Individual Code Blocks
An even faster way of accessing Scratch help screens is to view them one at a time on an as-needed basis without having to go through the Internet to view them. To view the help screen for an individual code block, right-click on the code block and then click on the help option that appears in the resulting popup menu. For example, Figure 15.6 shows the help screen for one of the sensing blocks.
In this particular example, the help screen demonstrates the code block’s usage and provides an example that further demonstrates the effect of using the code block. In addition, more information is provided at the bottom of the help screen that shows all of the code block’s available options.
Getting Help from Other Scratch Programmers
In addition to the documentation made available to you through Scratch’s help screens, the Scratch website also sponsors a collection of forums that bring together Scratch programmers from around the world. These forums facilitate the free exchange of ideas and provide you with the opportunity to seek out help and advice from fellow Scratch programmers. As shown in Figure 15.7, you can access these forums by going to http://scratch.mit.edu/forums.
Figure 15.7. The forums are organized into a number of high-level categories, including a forum dedicated to discussing troubleshooting.
Tip
If all else fails and you simply cannot find an answer to a particular problem, you can try sending an email to the Scratch developers by going to http://scratch.mit.edu/contact/us and filling in the email form that is provided. When doing so, provide as much information as possible about your problem and the steps that you have taken in trying to fix it.
By posting your questions to the appropriate forum, you can tap into the expertise and experience of other Scratch programmers. Often, you can find an answer to your problem without having to post a question at all. Answers can often be found in threads already posted by other Scratch programmers. Figure 15.8 shows an example of types of discussions you will find when you visit the Scratch website’s forums.
Figure 15.8. Scratch forums provide the ability to interact with and learn from other Scratch programmers.
