The Prison Break | Think Like A Coder, Ep 1

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This is episode 1 of our animated series “Think Like A Coder.” This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and must solve their way through a series of programming puzzles.

Lesson by Alex Rosenthal, directed by Kozmonot Animation Studio.

Upon emerging from stasis, Ethic is the
unfortunate recipient of three surprises.

The first: a prison cell.

The second: complete amnesia.

And the third: a mysterious stranger
has gotten stuck

squeezing through the bars on her window.

His name is Hedge, and he has come
to help Ethic save the world.

But first they have to break out of jail.

Hedge turns his hand into a lockpick and
outlines the challenge ahead.

Each lock in the prison works
in the same unusual way.

Inside the keyhole is a red dial that can
be rotated to one of 100 positions

numbered 1 through 100.

The key for a given cell spins the dial
to the right position,

which, when stopped there, makes it turn
green and unlocks the door.

It would be out of the question to steal
keys from a guard,

but Hedge has a better idea.

Hedge can carry out Ethic‘s commands.

If Ethic tells him to walk
5 steps forward,

turn right, then walk another 5 steps,

that’s exactly what he’ll do.

Hedge needs specific instructions though.

If Ethic says “pick the lock” or
“try every combination”

that would be too vague, but “spin the
dial 5 positions forward” would work.

Once out of the cell, they will only have
a few moments to crack the lock

for the outer prison door too before
the guards catch them.

So what instructions will allow Hedge
to efficiently open any door?

Pause now to figure it out for yourself.

Before we explain the solution,
here’s a hint.

A key programming concept that can help
unlock the door is called a loop.

This can be one or more instructions
that Hedge will iterate— or repeat—

a specified number of times,

like “jump up and down 100 times.”

Or an instruction that Hedge will
repeat until a condition is met,

such as “keep jumping up and
down until it’s 7 o’clock.”

Pause now to figure it out for yourself.

The first thing that’s clear is that you
need to find a way for Hedge

to try every combination until one works.

What takes a little more effort is
how exactly you do so.

One solution would be to instruct Hedge
to try every combination in succession.

Try 1 and check the light.

If it turns green, open the door,
and if not, try 2.

If that doesn’t work try 3.
All the way up to 100.

But it would be tedious to lay
that out in its entirety.

Why write more than 100 lines of code,

when you can do the same thing
with just 3?

This is where a loop comes in.

There are a few ways to go about this.

The lock has 100 positions,

so Ethic could say “Check the dial’s
color, then spin the dial forward once,

for 100 repetitions.

Remember where the dial turns green, then
have Hedge set it back to that number.”

A loop like this, where you specify
the number of times it repeats,

is called a “for" loop.

But an even more efficient loop

would have Hedge spin the dial one
position at a time until it turns green

and as soon as that happens, have him
stop and open the door.

That way if the door unlocks on 1,

he doesn’t need to cycle through
all the rest of the numbers.

This is an “until” loop,

because it involves doing an
action until a condition is met.

A similar, alternate approach would be
to turn the dial while it’s still red,

then stop.

That’s called a “while” loop.

Back to the adventure.

Hedge loops through the combinations,
and the cell opens at 41.

Ethic and Hedge wait until the
perfect moment in the guards’ rotation

and make a break for it.

Soon, Ethic faces a choice:
hide inside a mysterious crystal,

or try to crack the outer door
and make a run for it.

Ethic chooses to run.

The second door takes Hedge longer,
requiring him to spin all the way to 93.

But he gets it open

and takes the opportunity
to explain why he’s rescued Ethic.

The world is in turmoil:

robots have taken over,
and only Ethic can set things right.

In order to do so,

they’ll need to collect three
powerful artifacts

that are being used for nefarious
purposes across the land.

Only then can Ethic return to the
world machine— that giant crystal—

to set things right.

Ethic may have escaped the prison…

but what has she gotten herself into?