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Help and About

Welcome to Code2BotMode. This page explains how everything works. You do not need to read it all. Jump to the part you need.

What Code2BotMode is

Code2BotMode helps you learn how programs think. You learn programming logic, you read and test Python, and you program simulated robots. The robots live on your screen, so nothing can break or run into your furniture.

It is made for teens and adults. Lessons are short and built around small stories and puzzles. You do not just copy answers: you predict what will happen, test it, and explain why.

Sections and courses

There are three sections. Take them in order, or jump to any lesson that looks fun. Each lesson link below opens that lesson.

Programming logic

Plan, predict and trace with no code. Sequence, conditions, loops and variables.

Python for robots

Read and test short Python programs that steer a robot. Not available on the hosted website yet: these lessons need a separate runner that is still being set up.

Robotics simulation

Motors and steering in a simulated robot, with a plain look at what a simulator cannot tell you.

How a lesson works

Most lessons follow the same four moves:

  1. Predict. Before anything runs, say what you think will happen. A wrong guess is useful, because it shows what to look at next.
  2. Build and try. Make your plan or write your short program, then run it and watch the robot.
  3. Inspect the trace. The trace is a step-by-step record of what the robot did. Read it to see where the plan matched your guess and where it did not.
  4. Explain. Say in your own words why it worked, or why it did not.

Stuck? Every lesson has a Help button. Hints start as a gentle nudge and get more specific one step at a time. Take only as many as you need.

A full solution is there too, but only when you ask for it. After you look, you get a fresh challenge, so you can show that you understood what you saw.

You will see the word "independent" in some places. A puzzle counts as independent when you solved it without looking at an answer-level hint or the solution. Smaller hints do not stop it from counting.

Saving on this device

Saving is off by default. Until you turn it on, your progress lasts only while the page is open.

  • To turn saving on, open My progress and switch on saving on this device.
  • Saved progress stays in this browser, on this device. It is never uploaded, unless you sign in to a test account (see Privacy in plain words).
  • Python and robotics lessons save which puzzles you finished and how much help you used. Your Python code and typed answers are never saved.
  • In the Logic lab (no-code) lessons, saving also keeps your block plans and the answers you picked, so you can pick up where you left off.
  • A different browser, or a different device, has its own separate (and empty) save.
  • Turning saving off deletes the saved progress from this browser. If you are signed in to a test account, the account's copy stays until the maintainer deletes it, and lesson timing continues until you sign out.

Clearing the website data in your browser settings also removes saved progress. Downloading a progress file first (see the next section) keeps a copy.

Moving your progress to another device

Most learners don't have accounts, so progress does not follow you around by itself. Instead, you can carry it over in a small file. Here is how:

  1. On the device that has your progress, open My progress.
  2. Choose the button called "Download progress file". Your browser saves a small file.
  3. Get that file to your other device yourself, for example with a USB drive, or by sending it to yourself.
  4. On the other device, open Code2BotMode and go to My progress.
  5. Choose the button called "Load progress file" and pick the file.

Loading a file also turns on saving on that device, because keeping the loaded progress is the whole point. It is added to any progress already there.

What is in the file: course and puzzle IDs, results, how much help was used, a rough count of tries, a rough visit number, and the month. What is not in it: names, your code, your typed answers, or exact dates.

Anyone who gets the file can see that progress. Treat it like a private letter: share it only with people you trust, and do not post it publicly. A downloaded file stays where you saved it until you delete it yourself.

For parents and guardians

Code2BotMode is designed for teens and adults. If you would like a younger child to use it, you are welcome to, at your discretion and with you supervising.

  • There is no account to create. Progress saves only on your own device, and only if you turn saving on.
  • The app counts how many times each lesson is opened and finished each day. No name, ID or cookie is attached to those counts.
  • There is an optional feedback form with fixed choices and a short note box. Please help a younger child with it, and leave out personal details.
  • The app never asks for your child's name, age or birthday.
  • A few optional links lead to outside sites. Those sites have their own age rules, and some are for ages 13 and older. Those links stay hidden unless you turn them on for your device (see Outside links setting below).
  • There are no ads, and no chatbot is connected.

Sit with them for the first lesson if you can. The prediction step is a good moment to ask, "What do you think it will do?"

Keyboard tips

You can use Code2BotMode without a mouse.

  • Tab moves to the next control. Shift and Tab together move back.
  • The first time you press Tab on a page, a "Skip to main content" link appears. Press Enter to jump past the top bar.
  • Enter or Space presses a button.
  • Escape closes a dialog box.
  • Arrow keys change the choice in a menu or a group of options.
  • Where a puzzle lets you drag and drop, there is also a keyboard way and buttons that do the same job.
  • The Night mode button switches to a darker screen that is easier on the eyes in dim rooms.

Privacy in plain words

  • Learners do not need an account, and there is no sign-up. A few testers have accounts given to them by the maintainer.
  • There are no ads.
  • No AI chatbot is connected. Hints and lessons are written ahead of time and built into the app.
  • Lessons run in your browser. Your answers and your code stay in your browser.
  • Your saved progress stays on your device and is never uploaded, unless you use a test account (below).
  • The app sends a bare count when a lesson is opened or finished: the lesson, opened or finished, and the day. Nothing else is attached, and the site's maintainer sees only totals.
  • If you send feedback, it keeps the lesson, the kind of feedback, your note and the day. Email addresses, phone numbers, web links and @handles are removed before it is saved. Names and other details may not be caught, so please leave them out. Feedback is deleted within 4 months.
  • The app never asks for your name, age or birthday.
  • Code2BotMode sets no cookies unless you sign in to a test account. Cloudflare may set a short security cookie if it needs to check a browser.

This website is delivered by Cloudflare. To send you the pages and protect the site from attacks, Cloudflare handles basic connection details such as your IP address, under its own privacy rules. A request that its security checks flag is kept on record for up to a month. Code2BotMode itself does not store IP addresses.

Test accounts: the site's maintainer may give a few testers (aged 13 or older) a test account to help improve the lessons. Signing in at /sign-in sets a sign-in cookie and shares with the maintainer: that tester's progress; how long they spend on each lesson step on each day; and how often they run, reset or retry, pass or fail checks, and open hints, examples or solutions. Code and typed answers are never shared. The maintainer deletes each test account 6 months after making it, or sooner if you ask.

Python lessons are not available on the hosted website yet. They need a separately hosted runner, and that is still being set up.