Cato's Hike

$2.99, iPad, iPhone

Teaches: programming, logic

CTR Rating: 78%

CTR Review

Designed to teach children and adults how to program, this app lets you try to guide a cat through a maze using Logo-like commands like forward, turn, loop and so on. There are 60 challenge levels plus 10 tutorial levels and an in-depth manual, sharing of user-created map and program features, and lots of sounds when you tap on stuff while playing. In the app, a little boy named Cato is playing outside when a portal to another world opens up in front of him. Cato steps through and discovers that this world isn't like his own and doesn't follow the same rules. Every time he tries to take a step he finds himself stuck in place, until he discovers the rules in this universe - he must write a program for himself in order to overcome all the obstacles. Features of the app include: simple programming interface using cards with pictures; visual manual to help guide parents and more interested users; loops, branches and if/else, goto labels, looking and chaining looks to look ahead, goto's, and simple memory using colored flags are the main tools used to introduce programming; 60 levels and 12 tutorials; a map editor so you can create your own maps and puzzles and share with friends; preview your maps directly in the map editor to save time and test out your maps more quickly; saves program progress so you can pick up at any time and iteratively develop; email your puzzle solutions to share with others; and puzzles ranging from easy to hard to teach different programming concepts without trying to force them.