After helping Ethic escape from prison, Hedge flies them both to a small settlement near the massive Bradbarrier, a huge wall surrounding the nation. The settlers are busy preparing for the monthly “feeding.” On feeding day, the people collect art and literature from all over the land. Hungry furnace-bots arrive to consume these items. If the bots are fed, the lights stay on, and food is delivered. If not, everyone goes hungry. Hedge’s fuel runs out just as they reach the town, causing a crash landing. Fortunately, everyone is too busy to notice.
Ethic’s mission is to find the leader of an underground resistance group during the feeding. This leader knows where to find the first of three powerful artifacts. However, Ethic and Hedge don’t know what the leader looks like or their name. Hedge has some clues: the leader has green eyes. If they have red hair, their name includes at least one double letter. If they wear glasses, their name has exactly two vowels. Otherwise, their name has exactly three vowels. Only one person fits all these criteria.
Since Ethic is a fugitive, she can’t blend into the crowd without being noticed. Instead, she gives instructions to Hedge. One tool she uses is a “conditional,” a statement like “If A, then B.” Flowcharts are great for showing how these work. If A is true, do B. If not, do something else. This helps Hedge find the leader by following a series of questions.
To help Hedge, Ethic needs to simplify the task. Hedge should focus on one person at a time, asking questions like, “Does this person have green eyes?” What other questions should Hedge ask to identify the leader, and how can he keep track of the answers?
Humans might find this easy, but Hedge is not human. He needs clear, systematic instructions. Hedge will examine each person until he finds the right one. This process is like a loop, repeating the same steps until the goal is reached. Hedge will use conditionals to ask questions and stop when he finds the leader.
First, organize the information. Each person has traits: eye color, hair color, glasses, and name. Does the person have green eyes? If yes, mark a check next to “eye color.” If not, mark an X. If they have red hair, does their name have a double letter? If yes, mark a check next to “hair color.” If not, mark an X. Anyone with red hair and no double letter can’t be the leader. If they have blue hair, skip this question.
For the last question, ask, “If they wear glasses, does their name have exactly two vowels? If not, does their name have exactly three vowels?” People with glasses and one vowel, or no glasses and two vowels, aren’t the leader, so mark an X. The leader will have checks or blanks for every question. Blanks are okay if the rule doesn’t apply, like with blue hair.
Hedge could ask every question for every person, then choose the one with only checks and blanks. But to save time, as soon as Hedge marks an X, he moves to the next person. One X means they’re not the leader.
Hedge quickly searches the crowd and finds Adila, the resistance leader. He brings her to Ethic. Adila agrees to help them steal the first artifact, the node of power, but only if Ethic and Hedge reprogram the furnace-bots that threaten the town. Just then, the robots arrive.
Design a flowchart to help Hedge find the resistance leader. Use conditionals to map out the questions Hedge should ask. Start with “Does this person have green eyes?” and continue with the other clues. This will help you understand how conditionals work in decision-making.
Pair up with a classmate and take turns being Hedge and the townspeople. As Hedge, ask questions based on the clues. As a townsperson, answer according to your assigned traits. This will help you practice using conditionals in a fun and interactive way.
Write a series of conditional statements that Hedge could use to identify the leader. For example, “If the person has green eyes, then check the next trait.” Share your statements with the class and discuss how they help in problem-solving.
Imagine you are part of the settlement. Create a piece of art or write a short story that you would contribute to the monthly “feeding.” Share your work with the class and discuss the importance of art and literature in society.
In groups, brainstorm ideas on how Ethic and Hedge could reprogram the furnace-bots. Discuss what changes you would make to ensure they no longer threaten the town. Present your ideas to the class and explore the impact of technology on communities.
After breaking Ethic out of prison, Hedge flies them both towards a frontier settlement in the shadow of the Bradbarrier, the great wall that encircles the nation. All the settlers there will soon gather for the monthly feeding. The people of the wall spend their days gathering works of art and literature from all across the land. On feeding day, the furnace-bots arrive, ravenous. If they eat, the lights stay on, and the food gets delivered. If they starve, the people do too. Hedge’s fuel supply runs out just as he and Ethic reach the outskirts of town, and they come in for a crash landing. Luckily, everyone is too busy preparing for the feeding to notice.
Today’s feeding is where Ethic can find the leader of an underground resistance movement. This person knows the location of the first of three powerful artifacts. The problem is, Hedge and Ethic don’t know the resistance leader’s name or appearance. But Hedge has gathered the following information: The leader has green eyes. If the leader has red hair, their name has at least one consecutive double letter. If the leader wears glasses, their name has exactly 2 vowels. Otherwise, their name has exactly 3 vowels. There is exactly one person for whom these are all true.
As a fugitive, Ethic can’t sneak into the crowd without drawing attention to herself. But she can give instructions to Hedge. One tool she has is what programmers call a conditional. That’s a statement of the form “If A, then B.” Flowcharts are great illustrations of how those work. This conditional translates to: if A is true, carry out instruction B. There are also conditionals that account for different possibilities. This says, “If A is true, perform instruction B. Otherwise, carry out instruction C.”
So what instructions does she give Hedge so he can find the resistance leader? It can help to simplify first. What if Hedge just has to examine this one person? What information does he need to collect about her? He might ask, “Does she have green eyes?” What other questions should Hedge ask to find the resistance leader, and how can he track those answers?
It may seem intuitive how you’d approach this problem as a human. But Hedge isn’t a human, and so the challenge comes from needing to give him systematic instructions that will work in any scenario. Hedge needs to examine the settlers, one at a time, until he discovers the right person. In other words, like with the lock on the prison cell, this is a loop that repeats the same instructions. Only this time the loop will involve a series of questions in the form of conditionals, and will end as soon as Hedge finds his target.
First, you’ll want to organize your information. Each person has a set of characteristics: eye color, hair color, glasses, and name. Does this person have green eyes? If so, mark a check next to “eye color.” If not, mark an X there. If they have red hair, does their name contain a double letter? If so, mark a check next to “hair color.” If they don’t have a double letter, mark an X next to “hair color.” Anyone with red hair and no double letter can’t be the resistance leader. But notice that if they have blue hair, Hedge will skip this question and go on to the next one.
For the last question, we can say, “If they wear glasses, does their name have exactly 2 vowels? If they don’t have glasses, does their name have exactly 3 vowels?” There will be people in the crowd with glasses and 1 vowel, or no glasses and 2 vowels. But they’re not who we’re looking for, so they’ll get X’s. The resistance leader must be someone with either check marks or blanks next to every question. Blanks are okay, because if someone has blue hair, the rule about red hair doesn’t apply to them.
You could have Hedge ask every question about every person, and then choose the person with only checks and blanks. But there’s a way to save yourself lots of time: as soon as Hedge marks an X, have him move on to the next person. You don’t need to know the answer to every question; just one X means they’re not the target of your search.
Hedge buzzes through the crowd, and within minutes finds Adila, the resistance leader, and brings her back to Ethic. Adila agrees to help them steal the first artifact—the node of power—but under one condition: that Ethic and Hedge jump-start the revolution by reprogramming the furnace-bots that terrorize the town. And right on cue, the robots descend.
Resistance – The ability of a material or component to resist the flow of electrical current, often used in circuits to control the amount of current. – Example sentence: “The resistance in the circuit was too high, causing the computer to overheat.”
Leader – A person or tool that guides or directs a group or process, often used in coding to describe someone who manages a project or team. – Example sentence: “The project leader assigned tasks to each team member to ensure the software was developed on time.”
Conditional – A statement in programming that performs different actions based on whether a specified condition is true or false. – Example sentence: “The game used a conditional statement to check if the player had enough points to advance to the next level.”
Flowcharts – Diagrams that represent the sequence of steps in a process, often used in programming to plan out algorithms. – Example sentence: “Before writing the code, the programmer created a flowchart to visualize the steps needed to solve the problem.”
Questions – Inquiries made to gather information or clarify understanding, often used in coding to debug or improve a program. – Example sentence: “The developer asked questions about the software requirements to ensure the program met the user’s needs.”
Traits – Characteristics or properties that define an object or class in programming, often used to describe attributes in object-oriented programming. – Example sentence: “The programmer defined traits for the character class, such as speed and strength, to use in the game.”
Eye – A metaphor for attention to detail or the ability to notice small errors in code or design. – Example sentence: “Having a keen eye for detail helped the coder spot the bug that was causing the program to crash.”
Color – A property that defines the appearance of an object on a screen, often used in web design to enhance user experience. – Example sentence: “The designer chose a bright color scheme to make the website more appealing to young users.”
Glasses – Tools or devices used to enhance vision, often used metaphorically in coding to describe tools that help see or understand complex data. – Example sentence: “The data visualization software acted like glasses, helping the team see patterns in the large dataset.”
Artifacts – Objects or outputs created during the software development process, such as diagrams, code, or documentation. – Example sentence: “The team reviewed the artifacts from the last project to learn from past mistakes and improve their current work.”
