I'm new to Scratch. As I understand it, procedures are local to sprites… ie, each sprite needs its own definition block. Doesn't this kill the power of procedures (methods, functions)?

I need to be able to define a procedure in a global location and have the custom blocks be available to any sprite in the project. Without this, I find myself repeating endless blocks of code from sprite to sprite. If I change my mind, I need to go through 60 sprites and edit them all.

This seems like such an obvious need that I must be missing it. Any help?

I don't know… it's something about it potentially being confusing to new users.
I do want global procedures too.

I also found the lack of subroutines and functions to be strange.

It is possible to write centralized programs in the “Stage” which can send and receive text “Messages” to/from the sprites. This provides a central point of control. Sprites can do the same with each other. However, I don't see a way to pass arguments easily…

I would like to hear from some of the more experienced scratchers about this subject.

I use them to help document my project. For example in here http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/12969047/#editor

The reason why global custom blocks aren't in Scratch is because it can cause several problems. What if the custom block involved editing a local variable named (lives), but every other sprite didn't have it? What would you do then? The same situation would arise if you copied the block over to another project; how are you going to resolve the conflicts? Also, what if there was a local custom block already in the project?

Along with that, sprite's have a lot more capabilities then the stage, like moving. If a custom block could included a block, then it can't be used in the stage anymore, and so it's not global.

I know that there was some other sort of argument, but I've forgotten it by now. Hopefully I've shed a bit of light on this topic though.

Sharing,

ErnieParke

P.S. In reply to your topic's title, I don't find it a waste at all. The custom blocks I use are intended only for their sprite, and so I'm fine.