Small Basic Challenges of the Month! February 2014

It's time for another set of Small Basic challenges! Thanks to LitDev for hosting this. And...

Have fun!

These challenges are intended for people who are learning to program for the first time or for those returning to programming who want to start using Small Basic.  Some will be easy, some will be hard - but they will all make you think, and more importantly be GREAT FUN!

Please post your solutions / partial solutions / questions / feedback etc. into this forum thread that will remain 'sticky' for the month.  The only rule is that your solution must use standard SmallBasic methods (no extensions).

It would be good if people could post their problems with these challenges (in this thread) so that a discussion can start so that everyone can learn from each other.

Also post feedback (in this thread) on the kind of challenges that you want to see more of in the future.

Curriculum Challenges 3.2

1. Write a program to read in a user's name, then create an array of the letters using Shapes.AddText for each letter.  Then animate the Text shapes in the array to reveal the name on the GraphicsWindow.
2. Write a program using arrays to store 20 balls and move them all in some way on the GraphicsWindow. 
3. Write a program to shuffle a pack of cards and add the shuffled cards to a stack so they can be 'popped' or dealt.

 Graphics Challenge

1. Draw a dial (perhaps a speedometer or some other dial).  It should be able to animate as a value is changed.
2. Write a short turtle program (10 lines or less) to draw interesting patterns.  Here is an example to get you started - try different mathematical combinations.

Turtle.Speed=10For i =1To600Turtle.Move(10)Turtle.Turn(i*11)EndFor

Text Challenges

1. Write a program to write and read Morse Code (dots and dashes) or even use sound in some way.

Maths Challenges

1. Write a program to solve quadratic equations, like x2 - 8x +15 = 0 has solutions x = 3 and x = 5.
2. Extend it if possible to solve cubic and quartic equations.

Game Challenge

1. Write a simple Snake game.

Community Suggestions (by Zock77)

1. Write a program in which the user will draw something with his mouse. Then, when he inputs that he is done, the program will replay in real time what the user drew.

Community Suggestions (by Nonki)

1. Make a tr (UNIX-like translate) command.
2. Draw a Bezier or spline curve.
3. Measure pixel width of a text in GraphicsWindow.

Do you have an idea for a future challenge? Please post it in the forum here!

Thanks again to LitDev and the community! Enjoy!

   - Ninja Ed