A Short History of Code: teacher key

How Coding Works, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. Meet Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper, then follow code from machine language to Python and Scratch, and learn the ideas inside a program.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Who has been called the first computer programmer?
   • Grace Hopper
   • Ada Lovelace (answer)
   • John Backus
2. What do the digits in binary code look like?
   • 0 or 1 (answer)
   • 1 through 9
   • A through Z
3. Why would English-like words help a person who writes code?
   • They are easier to read and write than numbers (answer)
   • They make the computer faster
   • They remove the need for a computer
4. What did the Python team do on January 1, 2020?
   • Released Python 1.0
   • Sunset Python 2 (answer)
   • Named Python after a show
5. In the page about variables, what is a Boolean?
   • A value that can only be true or false (answer)
   • A kind of function input
   • A tool that stores old versions
6. Who runs Scratch as of November 2026?
   • MIT Media Lab
   • IBM
   • The Scratch Foundation (answer)

Words

• algorithm: list of steps
• compiler: code translator
• Boolean: true or false
• bytecode: internal form
• parameters: function inputs