First steps with Scratch4j
If you have had your first programming experience with Scratch or are starting from scratch, then Scratch4j is just right for you.
With Scratch4j you will learn the Java programming language in no time at all. You will learn through small projects how Java works and how to bring your creations to life.
Set up
First of all, you need a so-called development environment (IDE). This helps you with programming and enables you to execute your program.
A beginner-friendly development environment is BlueJ. Your first task is to install BlueJ on your computer. To do this, go to the BlueJ website, download the program for your operating system and install it.
Great! Now you have a development environment and can start writing programs with the Java programming language.
So that you can use Scratch4j, we need to adjust the BlueJ settings.
My first project
To check that everything went well, you can download the cat project. Then you have to unpack the zip file. Then you can open the project with BlueJ. Now you can call up a menu by right-clicking on the “CatSketch” card. There you click on “new CatSketch()” and a window should open and a cat should be visible.
Project templates
For the following projects, you will always download a project template that contains all the necessary files (e.g. images and sounds). So you can always get started with the project straight away.
As you will have many projects, it is best to create a folder in which you save all projects.