Days Since 2000 (block)

Days Since 2000
days since 2000
Category	Sensing
Type	Reporter
Introduced in	2.0

The Days Since 2000 block is a Sensing block and a reporter block. It reports the amount of days (and fractions of a day) since 00:00:00 1 January 2000 (UTC), and is a replacement of the Scratch Days block, which never made the official release of 2.0.

It is one of the two date/time blocks in Scratch. The other is current (), which reports the date or time. Both these blocks can be worked in unison with one another for a variety of time-related scripts and projects.

Example Uses

This block can be used in some of the following ways:

• Making a countdown

say (join ((9132) - (days since 2000)) [ days till 2025!])

• Making something unavailable before or after a certain date

if <(days since 2000) < (5845)> then
  change [money v] by [1000]
else
  say [This feature is unavailable after January 1, 2016.]
end

• Corresponding real-life events with projects

define mark (event) for (value) days from now
add ((days since 2000) + (value)) to [eventDates v]
add (event) to [eventNames v]

define search calendar for (event)
set [i v] to (0)
repeat until <<(i) > (length of [eventNames v])> or <(item (i) of [eventNames v]) = (event)>>
change [i v] by (1)
end
if <(i) > (length of [eventNames v])> then
set [output v] to (join (join [Your search for ] (event)) [ was not found.])
else
if <(days since 2000) < (item (i) of [eventDates v])> then
set [output v] to (join (join (join (join [Your event ] (event)) [ is in ]) ((item (i) of [eventDates v]) - (days since 2000))) [ days])
else
if <(days since 2000) = (item (i) of [eventDates v])> then
set [output v] to (join (event) [ is today!])
else
set [output v] to (join (join [This event happened ] ((days since 2000) - (item (i) of [eventDates v]))) [ days ago.])
end
end
end

Controversy

Many users have questioned the usefulness of this block and what it is for. Many users have also suggested the block to be replaced with a (days since ():: sensing) block. The block is often used for countdowns and clocks, so other users have also said that this block is useful and should not be removed.

See Also

• Current () (block)
• Scratch Days (block)