Scratch

### Platform

Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux (via renderer), HTML5, iOS, iPadOS, and Android.

## System requirements

Any modern web browser that supports JavaScript

Scratch is a free, educational, block-based programming language website that is targeted to ages 8 to 16 but anyone older can use it too

## Development

### Scratch's early stages

Scratch began development in 2003 and was released to the public in 2007. The idea behind Scratch was inspired by work in the Computer Clubhouse where children wanted to created interactive stories, games, and animations but there were no tools that could easily do this. The Lifelong Kindergarten Group was also inspired by Logo and EToys. Scratch 1.0, the first stable version, lacked many of the features now present. At that time, only the offline editor existed, and the website was a small blog where projects could be uploaded and played. As Scratch became more popular, the website grew with it. Scratch 1.1, Scratch 1.2, Scratch 1.3, and Scratch 1.4 were released. At this point, Scratch had millions of users, projects, and many new features.

### Scratch's 2013 update

Upon the release of Scratch 2.0 in 2013, the website and User Interface were changed. Scratch continued to grow, achieving 30 million users and projects in 2018. Scratch 3.0, which was released on January 2, 2019, updated the look and feel of the website and editor and added many new features, such as new extensions.

### Scratch's 2019 update

Because of the large expansion of the Scratch community, the Scratch Foundation was created and it has led the design, development, and support of Scratch since March 12th, 2019. MIT will continue to collaborate closely with the Scratch Foundation.

## Uses

Scratch is widely used in schools around the world as a means of introducing basic computer programming to children. It is also used outside of schools. Some teachers even use Teacher Accounts to monitor students while having fun in the Scratch Community. Children and even adults gain an understanding of the fundamentals of programming with Scratch and often move on to other programming languages. During their use of Scratch, people can create, remix, and collaborate with others on Scratch projects.

## Project Editor

In designing the language, the creators' main priority was to make the language and development environment simple, intuitive, and easily learnable by children who had no previous programming experience. There is a strong contrast between the powerful multimedia functions and multi-threaded programming style and the rather limited scope of the Scratch programming language.

### User Interface

The user interface for the Scratch development environment divides the screen into several panes: on the left is the blocks palette, in the middle the scripts area, and on the right the stage and sprite list. The blocks palette has code fragments (called "blocks") that can be dragged onto the scripts area from the palette to make programs. To keep the palette organized and for ease of use, it is organized into nine groups of blocks: motion, looks, sound, control, events, sensing, operators, variables, and more blocks.

Projects that users create can be shared on the Scratch Website and be viewed by others.

## April Fools Day Events

Every year on April Fools' Day since 2014, the wiki shows joke versions of many pages instead of the real one, even though the real version of the page can still be accessed at the bottom of the prank version. Although it's not the 1st of April, you can still access the joke version of the pages. Additionally, a semicolon has also appeared on the bottom of every page on the wiki on April Fools' Day since 2019.

## Trivia

SonicMovieFan1000 uses the website for creating his animations