What’s the problem micro-lesson

Coding algorithms need to be precise. The computer will follow the instructions exactly as they are written. One tiny, little error can ruin the whole program. Fixing the problems in an algorithm is called debugging. Bugs in a program are errors in the code. This could be an incorrect command or the command out of sequence. Let's look at some code in Scratch. I want the cat to move to the tree and then meow when it gets there. I'm going to press go and see what happens. The cat is meowing too soon. There must be a bug in my code. I need to think about how far the cat needs to move before meowing. I can change the number of steps to change how far the cat moves. I'm going to try 30 and then see what happens. It's better but it's still not enough. We need to keep testing and changing until our code works how we want it to. Let's try 150 steps this time because it still had quite a long way to go. The cat’s made it to the tree, but he looked like he was kind of flying and not really walking. I wonder if I can use the wait command to make the steps look more realistic. Head over to scratch.mit.edu to have a go yourself. Remember, keep trying and fixing your bugs until the program works how you want it to.