15. If only ...

If only Reeborg could decide on its own, writing programs would be much simpler ... WAIT ! Didn’t I tell you: Reeborg can make decisions on its own.

15.1. Javascript keyword: if

Do it!

Select an appropriate world (perhaps Alone), and have Reeborg execute the program below.

if (true) {
    move();
}

if (false) {
    turn_left();
}

true and false are Javascript keywords as well. You might want to interchange them and run the program again to see what happens.

15.2. if statement

The so-called if statement follows a pattern somewhat similar to that of functions

function some_name() {
    // block of code
}

if (some_condition) {
    // block of code
}

15.3. How to think of if statements

When we introduced functions, we explained how we could think of a function call as being somewhat equivalent to inserting the code block for the function definition at that point in the program. Thus:

move();
turn_right();  // function call
move();

is equivalent to:

move();
// begin of code block inside turn_right()
turn_left();
turn_left();
turn_left();
// end of code block
move();

if statements can be thought in similar terms, except that we have a conditional insertion (or rather deletion!). Thus:

move();
if (true) {
    turn_left();
    turn_left();
}
move();

is equivalent to:

move();
turn_left();
turn_left();
move();

whereas:

move();
if (false) {
    turn_left();
    turn_left();
}
move();

is equivalent to:

move();
move();

Note that thinking of it this way does not mean that such a deletion would be done permanently: if, somehow, our program looped back and repeated this part of the code again, the if statement would be reevaluated each time to decide whether or not to execute the lines of code inside the code block.

15.4. More useful that you might think...

Having to specify true or false does not help Reeborg decide on its own. However, there are special functions that Reeborg recognizes that allow to decide things for himself. The first of these is token_here() which tells Reeborg that there is at least one token at the grid position where he is located. For example, if we want to ask Reeborg to collect tokens, one part of the code could be:

if ( token_here() ) {
    take();
}

Have a look at worlds Tokens 1 and Tokens 2. In both cases, and assuming that Reeborg moves forward in a straight line, when he finds a token, all he as to do is:

1. take it
2. move to the next grid
3. put the token down
4. move one more step
5. and he is done()

where I have introduced a new command that Reeborg understands: done(). Actually, you should think of this command as Reeborg saying it himself and declaring that he has finished.

Let’s write the outline of a program that will work in both worlds Tokens 1 and Tokens 2:

function move_until_done() {
    move();
    if ( token_here() ){
        // something
        // something else
        // something else again
        // yet one more
        done();
    }
}

repeat(move_until_done, 42);

Why 42? ... well, I just want to be sure that Reeborg will take enough steps no matter what world he is in. So far, all the worlds are small enough that this should be fine. I agree, it does not seem very smart ... We’ll see how to fix that later.

Try it!

Copy the above in the Code editor, filling in the missing commands, and test your program on both worlds Tokens 1 and Tokens 2.