Cargo-bot - a puzzle that teaches the basics of programming

According to the first game, ironically, is programmed entirely on iPad, not only entertains but also teaches the basics of programming.

Prominent thinkers Douglas Rushkoff (Douglas Rushkoff) is convinced that soon everyone should know how to program or at least to understand the work programs. In his book, which is called - "is programmed or be programmed» (Program or be Programmed), he argues that the programming - it is the grammar of a new era.

In their beliefs Rushkoff is not alone. Dzhelkat Daniel (Daniel Jalkut), author of the popular blog client MarsEdit, says that a few centuries ago, no one believed that everyone should be able to read and write essays. And now it seems absurd to think otherwise. Daniel cautiously suggests that in the future may indeed become necessary understanding of programming and the ability to write code. And in Britain have pondered to stop work to teach students skills in Word, and enter the programming lessons.

And how even interest child in programming, as desktop and laptop computers are so powerful that fun to play 3D-games, and the plates were created "just for content consumption"?

First of hope we gave the Australian the developers of the company's Two Lives Left. They released Codify app for iPad (the new name - Codea), which allows you to write programs for the Tablet PC. More about Codify / Codea we told here.

And one Brazilian, Rui Viana (Rui Viana), wrote a game for the iPad, using its own tablet computer itself. The Cargo-Bot we have to program the crane so that he placed shipping containers in this order.

The screen in the game is divided into three parts. Top shows how should accommodate containers. Just below shows the crane itself. At the bottom we actually do "programming". it is not necessary to write the code itself, it would be boring. The game teaches the basics of programming in a more entertaining fashion: one action - an instruction set of instructions - the program. Step crane - this action or instruction, a series of steps with repetition - cycle. Also just tells about more complex things - for example, on a branch statement (to take only the blue boxes, and if caught yellow box - move to another location).

The goal in the Cargo-bot - to place containers with fewer instructions. The lower spent strokes, the higher the score. Just a game has 36 levels (on the Internet say that in fact there are more: 4 more hidden).

If you are not interesting programming on Cargo-bot game is still worth a look. Such interesting puzzles I have not seen for a long time. And one more thing - Cargo-bot is completely free. No payment within the application, no publicity, etc. I recommend to download - it's one of the best puzzle games this spring.