Guido is starting to realize that there are some things he cannot do. In the
projects where Guido traveled, he had no memory of how big the world was. He
has no way to keep track of a count. He tried to tell his parents about the
journey but when they asked How far did you go?
he didn't know. In the
rain
project where Guido had to close the windows, he had no way to
remember where he started, at the door. He had to leave a beeper there to know
when he had gone all around the house.
What Guido would like is a way to remember things. He read in a computer
programming book about a part of a program called a variable that could
be used to store numbers or letters or even words. Variables can hold a number
value and that value can be changed. If he had a variable, he could increase
the value in his variable by one for each step and know how many steps he had
taken. If he had a two variables, he could store the street and the avenue
where he stood at the door in the rain
project and wouldn't have needed
to drop a beeper there.
Alas, Guido does not have variables. Sadly, he knows he never will. He has heard rumors about other programming languages, such as Python, which have all of his capabilities and much more, including variables and the ability to listen and speak (input and output instructions) and even the ability to create whole new types of robots (object oriented programming and inheritance).
Its time to say goodbye to Guido and his world. He will wait patiently for the next class of students while you move on and learn more about programming as you continue your journey in Computer Science.
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Copyright © 2003 Roger Frank.