20 — ASCII art — drawing with characters

The easiest way to draw on a screen is to repeat one character. Five stars make a line; growing the count line by line makes a triangle.

#Steps

1. Repeat one character. Keep the character in a name first:

   set star to *
   set line to star repeated 5 times
   show line
   

   copyrun it →

   That prints *****.

2. The count can be a name too:

   set star to *
   set n to 3
   set line to star repeated n times
   show line
   

   copyrun it →

3. Add one each time round and it is a triangle:

   set star to *
   set n to 1
   repeat 5 times
       set line to star repeated n times
       show line
       add 1 to n
   end
   

   copyrun it →

4. Counting back down gives the other half. Together they are a diamond:

   set star to *
   set n to 1
   repeat 5 times
       set line to star repeated n times
       show line
       add 1 to n
   end
   set n to 4
   repeat 4 times
       set line to star repeated n times
       show line
       subtract 1 from n
   end
   

   copyrun it →

5. Mix in 14 — Screen and the drawing gets a frame:

   clear the screen
   say in a box Drawing stars
   draw a line
   set star to *
   set n to 1
   repeat 4 times
       set line to star repeated n times
       show line
       add 1 to n
   end
   draw a line
   

   copyrun it →

#Try it yourself

Use # or ♥ instead of *. Then grow by two each time — change add 1 to n to add 2 to n.

#What you learned

• <name> repeated <count> times repeats one character; Korean is <이름>을 <개수>개 붙인 것.
• The count may be a number or a name.
• Growing or shrinking the count inside a loop is what makes a shape.
• Mixed with the screen sentences, a drawing gets a frame.