INTRODUCTION
Folders keep things tidy
Five files in one big pile.
Last time you opened these files. Now let’s tidy them.
press Enter ↵
C:\Users\you\Documents

Lesson 3: Folders keep things tidy

Level 1, Meet Your Computer. Make your first project folder and move files into it. The new word: folder. It follows lesson 2, Everything is a file. Next comes lesson 4, Paths: every file has an address.

What the lesson explains

Folders keep things tidy. Five files in one big pile. Last time you opened these files. Now let’s tidy them.

A folder is like a drawer. It holds files, and other folders too. 📁 = a drawer; Holds files; And folders.

One project, one folder. Watch: New folder, then type its name. On the card: my-project

Folders inside folders make a tree. Look at the left side!

What you do first

Move hello.py into my-project. Move hello.py into my-project: click it, Cut, open my-project, then Paste here. It ends up at C:\Users\you\Documents\my-project\hello.py.

The files on the practice computer

This lesson works in 3 folders. At the start, Documents holds cat.png, hello.py, notes.txt, song.mp3, story.txt; your home folder, C:\Users\you holds Desktop\, Documents\, Downloads\, Pictures\; Pictures holds beach.jpg.

Along the way you make the folder my-project in Documents, move hello.py into my-project, move notes.txt into my-project, make the folder images in Documents\my-project and move cat.png into images. Lesson 4 opens with the files just as you leave them.

What you practise

Try it, "Move hello.py into my-project": Move hello.py into my-project: click it, Cut, open my-project, then Paste here. It ends up at C:\Users\you\Documents\my-project\hello.py.

Mini practice, "Tidy the rest": Move notes.txt into my-project: click it, Cut, open my-project, then Paste here. It ends up at C:\Users\you\Documents\my-project\notes.txt. Then: Make a new folder called images at C:\Users\you\Documents\my-project\images: click New folder, type the name, press Enter. Then: Move cat.png into images: click it, Cut, open images, then Paste here. It ends up at C:\Users\you\Documents\my-project\images\cat.png.

In your head, "Where is the cat now?": Where is cat.png now? The answer: "In images, inside my-project".

What PlayBuddy and PlayType say

PlayBuddy: "Welcome to lesson three!"

PlayType: "All your files in one big pile? Let’s tidy them up."

PlayBuddy: "A folder is like a drawer. It holds files, and other folders too."

PlayType: "Coders keep each project in its own folder."

PlayBuddy: "Folders in folders make a tree. Look at the left side!"

Help in every lesson

Everything happens on a pretend computer in your browser, so nothing touches your real files. PlayBuddy and PlayType stand beside the board, cheer you on and say when it is your turn.

A green ring shows where to click the first time. After that you do it on your own, and if you slip twice the ring comes back.

Stars

The lesson has 5 things to do. Up to one slip in ten gives three stars, up to one in four gives two, and finishing always gives at least one. Stars and progress are saved in this browser only; there is no account.

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