Get Coding 2! Build Five Computer Games Using HTML and JavaScript

by David Whitney, Duncan Beedie (Illustrator)

Overview

Ready to learn how to code a game? Get an introduction to programming with this fun and accessible guide.

Learn HTML and JavaScript. Design and build five interactive computer games. Create cool graphics. Code simple artificial intelligence. This appealing guide, covering essential coding concepts, offers an ideal introduction to all these activities and more. By following simple step-by-step instructions and completing five exciting missions, aspiring programmers are invited to code well-known games such as tic-tac-toe and table tennis, then customize their projects to test their skills.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536210309
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	7.88(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.78(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

David Whitney, an author of Get Coding! Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and Build a Website, App, and Game,is an independent software consultant who helps developers and businesses find smart solutions and write clean code. He enjoys helping people learn how to build better software, using leading-edge tools and frameworks. He lives in London.

Duncan Beedie is an illustrator and children’s author who loves computer games and gaming. His debut picture book, The Bear Who Stared, was short-listed for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. He lives in Bristol, England.

Editorial Reviews

2019-06-16
A kids' guide to coding simple games using CSS and JavaScript.

The multiethnic group of Ruby, Markus, Grace, Rusty, and their cat mascot, Scratch, invites readers to help them as they prepare five different games for a hackathon in which they will compete against their rival, SaberTooth Studios. The types of games are tic-tac-toe (called "noughts and crosses," to align with the British creator's website), a snake game, table tennis, an endless-runner game similar to Temple Run, and a side-scrolling platformer (think: Super Mario). Each lesson takes readers through it one game component at a time, ultimately building the code to double-page spreads that display the full code for each game at the end of its chapter. These lessons do a good job of contextualizing and explaining how the code functions as well as showing how much code goes into even the most basic of games. The Get Coding website is also referenced throughout as a resource for the activities and a source for some components of the final game (the shortest chapter of the book). The hackathon storyline, however, feels tacked on and provides little benefit—the premise is repeated a couple of times and then resolves off-page between chapters 4 and 5. The design helps break down explanatory text and walls of code into manageable chunks (though the escalating complexity of code may intimidate some beginners), and the illustrations will be full color. Along with an index, there's an introduction with an efficient history of computer games.

An ambitious coder's new best friend. (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

Dense and detailed, this sequel to Get Coding! (Candlewick 2017) is for serious students who can stick with a project...the text provides background and history useful for students writing about computers and gaming.
—School Library Connection

An ambitious coder's new best friend.
—Kirkus Reviews

The explanations are well written and remain easy to follow as the blocks of code get more complex. Kids who love popular games should enjoy creating those found here.
—Booklist

From the Publisher