Chapter 96: Introduction to Children's Programming

Outside the workshop of the food factory.

The tour concluded.

Lin Xuan held Xiao Sizi's hand as they left the viewing corridor.

They entered the changing room.

They took off the stifling Dust-proof Suit, ripped off the shoe covers, and changed back into regular clothes.

They walked out of the factory gate.

Fresh air flooded their lungs.

Xiao Sizi strapped on her pink small backpack.

She looked back at the blue factory building emitting a huge roar.

"Brother Lin Xuan, the machines make objects exactly the same."

"If people don't need to use their skills, what do people do?"

"People set the rules for the machines and write the language that controls their operation."

Lin Xuan opened the door of the bus.

He looked at Xiao Sizi, a smile in his eyes.

"No matter how fast the machine is, it is just a dead shell."

"The school will start computer class next week; go home and rest well."

"You will soon witness the ultimate spell modern people use to rule these steel beasts."

In the blink of an eye, it was Thursday afternoon.

Shi Diyi Shiyan Xiaoxue, Computer Room.

Dozens of desktop Personal Computers were neatly arranged.

The cooling fans of the host units emitted a low hum.

Xiao Sizi sat upright in the computer chair.

Her right hand covered the black Mouse.

Her palm felt the curve of the plastic casing.

A faint red light from the optical sensor at the bottom of the Mouse illuminated a small patch of the Mouse pad.

The young computer teacher tapped the Keyboard on the podium, "Class, look at the big screen."

"Today we won't learn typing; we will do a puzzle."

The projection screen on the wall lit up.

It displayed a software interface named "Scratch".

On the left was an orange cartoon cat.

On the right was a large blank area.

In the middle were various colored, long rectangular blocks with protruding and recessed slots.

"Use the Mouse to hold the left button, and drag the colored blocks to the right," the teacher gave the instruction.

Xiao Sizi's gaze returned to her own Monitor.

Her index finger pressed the left Mouse button, held it down, and moved her wrist to the right.

The cursor on the screen dragged a yellow block along.

It stopped in the blank area, and she released her index finger.

The block stopped firmly.

Written on it were five characters: 【When Green Flag Clicked】.

"Go back to the left and find the blue Movement Module," the teacher continued to guide.

Xiao Sizi moved the Mouse to the blue area and dragged out a 【Move 10 Steps】 block.

She moved the blue block close to the bottom of the yellow block.

As the protruding and recessed slots of the two blocks approached, a ring of white prompt light flashed on the screen.

She let go.

Click.

A very crisp snapping sound effect came from the speakers.

The two blocks interlocked perfectly.

"Click the green flag in the top right corner."

Xiao Sizi moved the cursor and pressed the green flag icon.

In the display area on the left, the orange cartoon cat moved forward a short distance.

Xiao Sizi blinked.

A hint of unusual color flashed in her eyes.

She did not wait for the teacher to continue teaching.

The Mouse cursor moved quickly through the module area in the middle.

She discovered an orange Control Module: 【Repeat Until】.

This module looked like an open clamp.

Xiao Sizi dragged it out and directly wrapped it around the blue 【Move 10 Steps】 module.

She clicked the green flag again.

The cartoon cat lifted its legs and slid forward continuously.

A few seconds later, the cat's body collided with the right edge of the display area.

Most of its body was stuck outside the frame, only a tail exposed, still flailing uselessly in place.

Hit the wall.

Xiao Sizi frowned slightly.

She scrolled up and down within the blue Movement Module.

Her gaze locked onto a block named 【If On Edge, Bounce】.

She dragged it into the orange Repeat Clamp.

The cartoon cat resumed running.

It hit the right edge, instantly flipped upside down, and turned left.

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It hit the left edge, flipped again, and ran right.

"It moved!" The short-haired girl beside her leaned over, covering her mouth as she laughed, "Lin Mingda, you assembled it so fast—it's like building with blocks."

Xiao Sizi remained solemn, not distracted in the slightest.

She stared at the cat running back and forth on the screen.

She glanced again at the three logic blocks locked together on the right.

In an instant, she realized these were not blocks—they were commands.

She issued an instruction, setting a boundary.

The lifeless object on screen obeyed her will without resistance.

……

Tang Dynasty.

The atmosphere in the imperial court was deeply strange.

Among the civil officials, several who excelled in Arithmetic and the Book of Changes had abandoned decorum, crawling on the floor.

Clutching charcoal sticks, they frantically scribbled on portable scratch paper.

Grand Historian Li Chunfeng's eyes were bloodshot, fixed on the Sky Screen.

"This… what kind of array is this?"

Li Chunfeng's brush tip trembled as he drew the nested module.

"When it meets a wall, it turns back—endlessly recurring. Isn't this the Eight Gates Closed Loop from Qimen Dunjia?"

A nearby Doctor of Mathematics shook his head in rebuttal.

"No! This is Arithmetic!"

"Set a prior principle, define the operational numbers."

"The yellow square is one; the blue square is the result."

"Pull one hair, and the whole body moves. This is an extremely profound computational art!"

Upon the Danbi.

Li Shimin stood with his hands behind his back.

He did not understand his ministers' debate over Qimen Dunjia and Arithmetic.

But he possessed the emperor's most terrifying intuition.

Closing his eyes, images from the Sky Screen's recent broadcasts surfaced in his mind.

That orange mechanical arm striking down two hundred times per second.

Li Shimin suddenly opened his eyes, a piercing gleam flashing in their depths.

"I understand."

"A few days ago, that future youth said humans set rules for machines, writing languages to control their operation."

Li Shimin pointed at the colorful squares on the Sky Screen, "These are the rules! These are the language!"

All civil and military officials raised their heads, stunned.

"The blacksmiths forge the machine's body; the people of the future use these squares to infuse the machine with a soul that obeys!"

"That cat is the mechanical arm."

"The squares make it turn, and it turns."

"The squares make it strike down, and it strikes down!"

The Eternal Emperor's breathing grew heavy and labored.

Tang forges swords and blades—these are lifeless objects.

The future forges machines—these are obedient slaves.

And the whip that controls the slaves is this invisible, intangible logical array.

"This art of commanding objects…" Li Shimin's voice was dry, tinged with awe, "is a hundred times more profound than forging a hundred-fold tempered steel blade."

……

A rented apartment on the city's outskirts.

Night had fallen.

Outside the window, traffic flowed continuously.

Only a warm yellow floor lamp glowed in the living room.

Lin Xuan placed a silver laptop on the coffee table and opened the screen.

Xiao Sizi had bathed and changed into a cotton pajama set.

She sat cross-legged on the rug, hands resting before the Keyboard.

The screen displayed the web interface of Scratch.

Lin Xuan walked out of the kitchen, carrying two cups of hot milk.

He placed one cup on the edge of the coffee table and pulled over a low stool to sit.

"Didn't you have enough fun at school?" Lin Xuan glanced at the screen.

On the right side of the interface, Xiao Sizi had dragged out a long chain of logic blocks.

She added an "if... then..." conditional, even inserted a red Variable Block.

In the left display area, a cartoon cat was dodging apples randomly falling from the sky.

Every time it caught an apple, the number at the top of the screen increased by one.

"School only taught movement," Xiao Sizi tapped the Mouse with her right index finger, adjusting a variable parameter. "I tried these question-mark blocks myself. They can make decisions."

Lin Xuan explained: "This is called Visual Programming, designed specifically for children's early education."

"It wraps complex English characters into blocks you recognize as Chinese characters."

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