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My nephew asked me why his game character couldn't walk through a wall
I was helping my 10 year old nephew, Leo, with a simple Scratch project last weekend. He got frustrated because his sprite kept stopping at the edge of the screen. I explained it needed a boundary check, like 'if touching edge, bounce'. His eyes lit up and he said, 'Oh, so the computer needs rules for everything, even stuff that seems obvious to us.' That simple idea about explicit instructions really clicked for me. Has anyone else had a moment where explaining a basic concept to someone new made you understand it better yourself?
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the_thomas7d ago
Huh, I actually see it the opposite way. That moment always reminds me how much the computer doesn't know. We take for granted that a wall is solid, but the code has zero common sense. It's not making rules for obvious stuff, it's starting from absolute zero. You have to tell it what a wall even is, and then what "solid" means. It's less about rules for everything and more about building up every single idea from nothing.
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the_kevin7d agoTop Commenter
Wait, so is it more like teaching a baby?
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