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There are numbers on the X and Y axis. to reach the goal which is the Flag, you add 5 to moveDistance and plus the command move right will take you to point 7 on the x axis. adding 1 to moveDistance and the command move down (on the y-axis) helps you reach the Flag your goal.
Adding 5 to moveDistance in this exercise means that you are adding 5 to the existing value of moveDistance and then assigning the resulting value i.e. 6 to the moveDistance variable. So, now moveDistance is no longer 1. The previous value of 1 has been replaced by 1 + 5 and now moveDistance is 6.
Then you move 6 units (moveDistance) to the right.
Then you add 1 to the existing value of moveDistance i.e. 6 + 1 and assign the result i.e. 7 to the moveDistance variable. The moveDistance variable is no longer 6. Now it is 7.
Then you move 7 units (moveDistance) down.
Basically, in this Blockly exercise, the add block is being used to compute something and then assign the result to a variable.
In Programming generally adding a value to a variable doesn’t change the value assigned to the variable e.g.
a = 3
a + 4 // a + 4 is 3 + 4 i.e. it is 7
a // but a is still 3. The original value is intact.
But in the Blockly exercise, we are doing something slightly different (this is called reassignment) e.g.
a = 3
a = a + 4 // We are adding 4 to existing value and then assigning
// the result 7 to the variable overwriting the previous value.
a // a is now 7. The previous value of 3 has been replaced.
In languages such as Python or JavaScript, = is used as the assignment operator (usually == is used for equality comparison). Some languages use a different operator than = for assignment.
In the exercise, we are doing
moveDistance = 1 // Initial value
moveDistance = moveDistance + 5 // Assigning 1 + 5 i.e. 6 to moveDistance
move right // Moving 6 units to right since moveDistance is 6
moveDistance = moveDistance + 1 // Assigning 6 + 1 i.e. 7 to moveDistance
move down // Moving 7 units down since moveDistance is 7
at that position after moving right you have now a total number of 5 for the MoveDistance. if you add 1 to moveDistance, you have a total of 6 for the moveDistance (1+5). Move Down will get you to point 7 on the y-axis which takes you to the Flag (your goal).
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