Game Unit Reflection

Since I was pretty familiar with programming after taking the AP Computer Science exam, when I heard that we were programming next unit, I was quite excited. However, I have to say that I was quite disappointed when I was first introduced to Scratch because it was not the type of programming that I expected. To me it seemed as if we weren’t actually programming anything by ourselves, but just borrowing the already made applications or functions from Scratch to create rather an obvious or very limited game. However, as I tried new things out, I thought it was quite similar to java, because unlike C, java also has a lot of functions that are provided for the programmer.
Jenn and I together created a game, in which the prince has to reach the princess in order to save her. Initially, when we were told to create a game, I had no idea where to start from. However, after viewing some of the games online, I remembered a game that I played at naver.com when I was young. So, I borrowed the concept from that game and incorporated into our game. As I was looking for different applications to make the game, I found out that the codes (Looks, Sound, Variables) were similar to the ones that we actually use when programming with computer language. For example, “if...then...” “forever if” “repeat until” are pretty much what is used in computer language. I found the similarity quite interesting.
While I was creating the game, I had to go through numerous trials and errors. After every coding I had to run it and see if it works; if it did not work as intended, I had to go back to the codes and alter some of it or try new functions. I also found that particular process very similar to the process with computer language.
I was thinking about majoring computer science, but after this unit, I am even more willing to do so. Before, I thought computer science was a really rigid and defined studies, in which not much creativity is allowed. However, after creating a game using Scratch, I think it actually requires a lot of innovative ideas along with personal inputs.