1.1.3. Transitioning from AP CSP to AP CS A

You may have taken the AP CSP (Computer Science Principles) course and exam which is an excellent preparation for the AP CS A course. In AP CSP or in other coding experiences, you may have used a block coding language like App Inventor, Scratch, Snap!, App Lab, etc. Block languages remove syntax errors for beginners so that they can focus on coding without worrying about typing in and spelling the commands exactly right or structuring them with the correct spacing or punctuation.

In text-based programming like Java, here are some tips to keep in mind when you are typing in commands:

• You must make sure you spell the commands correctly.

• Most text-based languages are case-sensitive which means that the commands have to match the lowercase or uppercase letters exactly too.

• Many text-based programming languages use a semicolon (;) to end a command.

• Many text-based programming languages use curly brackets { } to group together commands. The curly bracket notation may be familiar to you from the AP CSP pseudocode which is very similar to Java notation.

Here is a comparison of some App Inventor blocks compared to AP CSP pseudocode and Java code used in AP CS A (open in Google Docs) and a comparison of code.org App Lab code to Java.

Here is a a comparison of code.org App Lab code to Java:

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