Secret Coders

File:Secret coders.jpg

Photo of the Secret Coders books 1 through 6

Secret Coders is a series of graphic novels that combines logic puzzles, basic programming instruction, and a story where a group of seventh graders uncover a secret coding school. The series is written by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Mike Holmes, and published by First Second Books.

About the Author

Gene Luen Yang, the author of the series, is a cartoonist. However, he majored in computer science when he was in college at U.C. Berkeley. Some of his non-cartoonist jobs included a few years of software developing and over fifteen years of high school teaching computer science in Oakland, California. His books are based on his teaching techniques, and meant to be educational, fun, and accessible by all age levels. He wrote the book to inspire people to learn coding. Yang wrote the book in a similar way to how he taught his classes.

Structure of the Novels

Secret Coders is a series of 6 educational graphic novels. Each of the Secret Coders graphic novels has 3 chapters. The chapter “titles” are drawings of four-eyed binary birds, displaying the chapter number in binary with open and closed eyes. At the end of each chapter, there is a coding or binary challenge. At the end of each book, there is a coding challenge. The answer to the coding challenge is revealed at the beginning of the next book. The sixth and final book does not have a coding challenge at the end.

The beginning of the first book implies that the books are stories being told by the main character, Hopper. This is confirmed by the end of book six, where Hopper begins to tell the story to Eni.

All the books take place at Stately Academy

Graphic Novels

Secret Coders (2015)

This book is the first in the series and contains Chapters 1 - 3

In this book, the main characters are introduced. The readers get a sneak peek of Doctor One-Zero and Principal Dean, but for the most part the antagonists are not introduced.

Summary: With the help of the binary birds, Eni teaches Hopper binary. Then, Hopper and Eni find Little Guy and teach themselves some basic logo commands: Repeat, Forward, Right, Left, PU, and PD. At the end of the book, Josh joins Hopper and Eni. Mr. Bee confronts them and gives them a coding challenge (the end of book challenge).

Paths & Portals (2016)

This book is the second in the series and contains Chapters 4 -6.

Summary: In this book, Mr. Bee teaches the coders the EdAll (Edit All), Random, and Variable commands. Josh is revealed to be an amazing typist. There is also an example of a buggy program at the beginning of the book, which gets subsequently debugged. A list of logo’s basic commands is on page 19, though many of them are not fully introduced and explained until later books, if at all. The rugby team, minor antagonists, are also introduced.

Programming concepts: random numbers

Secrets & Sequences (2017)

This book is the third in the series and contains Chapters 7 - 9.

Summary:

Robots & Repeats (2017)

This book is the fourth in the series and contains Chapters 10 through 12.

Summary:

Potions & Parameters (2018)

This book is the fifth in the series and contains Chapters 13 - 15.

Summary:

Monsters & Modules (2018)

This book is the sixth in the series.

Main Characters

Hopper

Hopper is a twelve year old girl and the protagonist of the Secret Coders series. She just moved to her new middle school, Stately Academy. She is in seventh grade. She is an only child and her mom is the Mandarin teacher at Stately Academy. She began to play basketball after her dad, a huge basketball fan named Albert Gracie, disappeared. In the fifth book, Albert Gracie reappears and it is revealed that he was imprisoned by Doctor One-Zero and intoxicated with Green Pop. She becomes a coder after some lessons from Eni and Mr. Bee. Hopper is named after Grace Hopper. Her personality is also somewhat based on Grace Hopper (as with the name). Hopper is introduced to the reader in book 1.

Eni

Eni is a tall, African American basketball player. He has three older sisters, all basketball players. His personality and appearance were inspired by Chris Bosh, an NBA star and coder. He teaches Hopper binary and some basic coding. Eni is introduced to the reader in book 1.

Mr. Bee

Mr. Bee is the Stately Academy janitor with a secret past. He is based on Seymour Papert, a computer scientist. In the second book, it is revealed that he was the founder of the Bee School, a computer science school that was all but abolished. A few classrooms and plenty of turtles from the Bee School are hidden beneath Stately Academy. After Hopper, Eni, and Josh hear that Mr. Bee was once a professor at the Bee School, they refer to him as Professor Bee. In book 5, it is revealed that he was originally named B Square, for he is from Flatland. He is introduced to the reader in book 1, but his past is not known until book 2, and his far past is not known until book 5.

Dr. One-Zero

Dr. One-Zero’s original name was Pascal Pasqual. He created Little Guy, and was a former student at the Bee School. He was the original creator of green pop, the substance that when drunk reprogrammed the drinker’s brain to love the color green and only want to see the color green. Those that drink green pop can only say “Green!” (if they see the color green) and “Green?” (if they do not see the color green). He also made green mist, a vapor version of green pop, and ultraviolet mist, a vapor that makes you want to see ultraviolet light (which causes eternal desire, because humans can not see ultraviolet light).

Other Characters

Other characters include Josh, an award winningly fast typist, who, Starting in book two, uses the EdAll command to type up computer programs for Hopper and Eni. Little Guy is a robot officially called Pascal Junior after Dr. One-Zero or Pascal Pasqual, his original creator. Other turtles include Mini Guy, a tiny turtle; LightLight, the original Turtle of Light that Mr. Bee brought with him from Flatland; and BrightBright, the second Turtle of Light that the protagonists retrieve from Flatland. Minor antagonists include Principal Dean, the Stately Academy principal who works with Dr. One-Zero and the Stately Academy rugby team, who were bribed to do Principal Dean’s bidding.

Connections in the Novel

Logo

Logo is the programming language used for the turtles throughout the Secret Coders books. Some of the commands include Forward (moving the turtle forward the given number of steps), Right and Left (turning right and left, respectively, the given number of degrees), PU/Pen Up (move without drawing), PD/Pen Up (draw while moving), and Repeat (repeat all the commands inside the brackets the given number of times). Logo is the first coding language the author learned.

Binary

Binary, or base two, is used frequently throughout the books. For example, the four-eyed-robot-birds’ eyes close and open depending on what base ten number they see. They convert it to binary and open their eyes for 1s and close them for 0s. For example, the number 9 is written all over the school because when the birds see this number, they convert it to binary (1001) and close their middle two eyes, appearing normal.

Flatland

In the fifth and sixth books, it becomes clear that the full series is based on the book Flatland. In the fifth book, it is revealed that the teacher/janitor, Mr. B, was named B Square when he lived in Flatland. B Square explains his life in Flatland, and mentions his brother, A Square, who came to Earth and wrote Flatland under another name. In the sixth book, the main characters Hopper, Eni, and Josh go to Flatland. Making the code to make a portal to Flatland is the challenge at the end of book five.