-
When you use a repeat block to loop your code,
how does the computer know when it's repeated
-
enough times? The repeat block is actually
hiding a more sophisticated piece of code
-
called a for loop which counts from a starting
value up to an ending value by a specific
-
increment. For example, a repeat three block
counts from 1 to 3 by 1. Every time it counts,
-
it runs the code inside the loop. The for
loop knows how many times it has run by using
-
a counter variable which is set to the starting
value at the beginning of the loop and has
-
the increment added to it each time the loop
is run. As soon as the counter variable is
-
greater than the ending value, the loop stops
running. The benefit of using a real for loop
-
instead of the repeat block is that you can
actually see the counter variable and use
-
it in your loop. For example, if I have a
series of flowers and the first one has one
-
nectar, the second one has two nectars and
the third one has three, I can use the for
-
loop to tell the bee to collect 'counter'
nectars each time, which would one at the
-
first flower, two at the second and three
at the third. Also in a for loop, you can
-
increment the counter by a number other than
one each time. You can potentially count by
-
2s, 4s or even an amount that changes every
time through.