Unit 1 Essential Questions

Why is computer science relevant?
Computer science is relevant because of the widespread influence of computers in modern technology. Most, if not all, fields of work take advantage of computers to improve their efficiency, speed, and overall increase in production. Aside from work, the daily life of people today is heavily involved in computers. Commonplace things like the Internet, social media, GPS, and cars are results of computer science and computer improvements.

What does computer science involve and include?
Computer science involves the study of fundamental theories that make computers work. It is a broad topic that includes algorithms, data structures, programming, data and information, abstraction and more. In the end, computer science is like any other science in the sense that it generally advances our current technology and knowledge of the world.

What is computing innovation?
An innovation is a change or modification made to an already existing product  product, which can be to lower its costs, increase efficiency, or any other thing that improves the product. For example, a specific innovation made for computers is the Internet. The Internet allows for global connections between computers which greatly increased the amount of information that could be shared.

How does CS impact my area of interest?
Computer science impacts my area of interest directly because I want to become a programmer. I am considering software development and in order to create the best applications I possibly can, it would be important to first understand the details on how a computer works and any other information that studying computer science would give.

Snap! U2-Plural

Circle 1: First, it takes the word cabbage and keeps the same word except for the last letter. This leaves "cabbag". Then, the last letter of "cabbag", which is "g" is checked in the list. The letter g is not in the list so it reports false.

Circle 2: Each word in the list is put into the plural block and turned into plural versions of the original word.

Snap! U2-Mastermind

Circle 1: When the game is started, Player 2 is asked to make a guess and the guess variable saves the answer. Then Player 1 is asked how many colors are in the correct position and the correct position variable saves the answer.

Circle 2: The correct position number will switch to the right costume and stamp the number on the screen. The costume has plus 1 because the first costume is 0. If correct positions is 4 then Player 2 has guessed all colors correctly and the game ends.

Snap! U2O2-PinwheelWithRectangles

Circle 1: When the program is started, initialize all the variables to a default value.

Circle 2: A pinwheel is drawn but for each branch of the pinwheel, instead of just a line it is a rectangle. The inputs can be changed via sliders.

Snap! U2O1-Magic8Ball

Circle 1: When the green flag is clicked, initialize responses to a list of possible responses for the 8 Ball. The 8 Ball then tells to user to ask a question. When a question is asked a random response is given.

Circle 2: When the green flag is clicked hide the Asker. When the user asks a question the Asker is shown and says the question. After getting the 8 Ball's response hide the Asker again.

Snap! U2L4-TicTacToe

Circle 1: When the program starts, create the board and let X go first.

Circle 2: The makeBoard block points to the right and goes to top left. It creates a 3x3 grid by making a rows of squares. Each row creates clones of the Square sprite. After each row is complete it goes back to starting point and moves down to start the next row. After making the board the original Square is hidden so there are not 10 squares.

Snap! U2L4-FractalArt

Circle 1: The sprite draws a triangle by drawing a line and turning 3 times.

Circle 2: The nested triangle block draws a triangle, but for each triangle another triangle is drawn.