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Inside the Machine G3 to G5 / Week 07 / Friday
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Week 07 · Software and files

Friday

A drawing's journey
// The instructions that bring the parts to life
⏱ about 15 min

Friday: A drawing's journey

Friday is review day at the Fix-It Bay. The neighbor from yesterday is back with a saved map. "I named it and put it in a folder!" he says proudly. Rocket cheers.

Raven smiles. "What do you notice about everything that had to work together for that one map?"

Nova projects a glowing path across the room. "Let us follow the drawing from the first tap to the saved file."

Everything working together

One drawing uses every idea from this week, and many from earlier weeks.

Hardware senses the finger. The operating system passes the touch to the app. The app follows its instructions.

The processor does the math. Memory holds the drawing as it grows. Saving writes it to storage as a file.

Finger touches the screen (hardware)
↓
Operating system reports the touch
↓
Drawing app adds a line (software)
↓
Processor works out the pixels
↓
Memory holds the growing picture
↓
Save writes map.png to storage
FOLLOW THE DRAWING
  • Tap a card.
  • Then tap its spot.
1First
2Second
3Third
4Fourth
5Last

Week 7 check

HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, FILE OR FOLDER?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
The touchscreen is which kind of thing?
The drawing app is which kind of thing?
map.png is which kind of thing?
Maps, which holds map.png and map2.png, is which kind of thing?
StatementTrue or false?
Software is a list of instructions for the processor.?
The operating system is one of the apps.?
Closing an app deletes it.?
Saving copies work from memory to storage.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThese four facts are the heart of week 7.
What is the software that starts the device and shares the parts?
Which file type tag means a picture: .png or .mp3?
Work that was never saved is lost when the power goes. Where was it living?

Fix-It Bay cases

Read each case. Decide what the crew should say.

WHAT SHOULD THE CREW SAY?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A neighbor says the device is broken because nothing happens. The screen is dark.
One game is frozen, but the other apps work.
A neighbor cannot find her story. She remembers naming it moon.txt.
A tablet is slow with twelve apps open. What safe fix clears space in memory?
WHY THIS EXERCISEClosing apps frees memory. It is one of the safe fixes a child may do.
Try it
Tell a grown-up the journey of a drawing in your own words.
Use the words hardware, software, memory and storage.

Week 7 is done, Crew Technician! Hardware, software, apps and files all make sense now. Next week, your messages leave the device and travel the internet.

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