The Great Race

In the last few lessons in my control technology class, we have been learning and using the eToys program in Sugar. Throughout the few lessons we have made various script/code-ridden activities, as in, making objects move from one place to another or just to make an object follow a specified path.

As I accomplished each activity given by my teacher, my knowledge about the program and its usage grew enabling me to do a quite challenging activity called 'The Great Race,' which most of my classmates had also done. It consisted of scripts telling whether the objects could interact with another or how it could interact. Furthermore, it had a timer and a speed tracker to each car enabling us to have an accurate reading of what is going on. In addition to the timer and trackers, there are stop and start buttons just like in a game.

During the process of making 'The Great Race,' I encountered many annoying problems. The problems consisted of incorrect codes in scripts, the randomness of the car's speed makes the car react slower than usual enabling it to bypass the guide lines and many other trivial problems.

In the end, after making circle tracks, ellipse tracks and square tracks, I found that the square track gave me the best results. I ended up using the square track at a loss of the car's flexibility. It can only turn left and can no longer turn right but even with its loss, it was by far more successful than my earlier attempts.


Here is a screenshot of "The Great Race."


Here are the scripts used to make it.


The lessons spent so far on eToys have been fun and I look forward for the future lessons of this program, although some activities may be challenging, it is extremely worth the hardship for a moment of far-fetched laughter.