Code with Beep

About this game

Code with Beep is a first programming course for children, in Python. Beep is a little robot who does exactly what he is told, and the player is his programmer.

Every lesson explains one idea in simple words, then asks questions and sets challenges that get harder step by step. There are seven lessons so far: what a program is; turning left and right, and what a bug is; loops; print and sums; variables; if/else conditions; and typing code yourself.

The programs are real Python. In the first lessons they are built by tapping command tiles, so a phone is enough: a number in a command changes with a tap, and indents are set for the child. Lesson seven moves on to typing, with a bar above the program made for phone keyboards: hints that finish words, brackets and quotes that close themselves, and an indent after a colon. Every program can be run: Beep walks it out on a small island in space, line by line, or the printed text and the contents of each variable appear on screen. When something goes wrong, Beep says in plain words what happened and on which line. Hints come one at a time, and the answer can be shown when the child is stuck.

In the Sandbox the child draws an island of their own (ground, rocks, crystals, the battery and where Beep stands) and types any program for it. Beep can also say things and paint the square he stands on, so programs can draw pictures; a cheat sheet lists every command.

Stars are given for solving a task, for solving it without hints and for the shortest program, and each finished lesson gives Beep a new colour or hat. Progress and Sandbox projects are saved in the browser; there is no account, no adverts and nothing to buy. The game is in Russian and English.