Getting Started with Programming

What at all is programming?

Basically, it is writing a set of instructions (code) to a computer, in one of the computer's languages (called a Programming language), in order for the computer to "understand" and execute the instructions.


When you program, you are basically controlling the computer. The main purpose for programming is automating tasks and therefore making them easier to execute. Think of say; automating your computer to send a greeting message to a friend every morning instead of having to do this every morning yourself, which of course, you could sometimes forget. Or in another case, for the computer to remind you of your friend's birthday. All you need is to let the computer know your friend's birthday and tell the computer that when that day comes, it should let you know. That's how come Facebook never forget your birthday.


Coding

We call the writing of instructions to the computer coding. It's actually like writing out a recipe for a food. It's that simple, what makes it a bit difficult is the fact that every step counts, and you know that's how it is with recipes too, missing a step or putting one before the other will mess up your food.

How difficult is it?

The difficulty of programming can be subjective but we can agree on one thing, you will have millions of programmers out there who have already gone through all the problems you will encounter when you start programming. This means your solutions are a search away, you just have to search and I assure you that you have your solution and that someone actually typed the problem the way you are typing it: small world right?


How about the maths?

It's a misconception that programming is maths. Please, programming can be any subject at any point depending on the project you are undertaking. And as a beginner, you won't have to worry about any of these. And even when it comes to maths, you will rarely have to think up the solution yourself because the truth is, someone has already worked out the solution for you in the most elegant way. 


How Do I start?

That's a good question. To start programming, you need an environment (a text editor) where you will be writing your instructions. I recommend, you download Visual Studio Code, please, just search for "Visual Studio Code Download" and download it. Install it after it finishes downloading, visual studio code is for PCs, in case you want to program using your phone, it is not impossible, get to the play store and make some search, you will find an editor for your language of interest. For example, if you want to code in python, you can search for qpython or pydroid on the play store.


After that, you will need to start with a particular programming language. We have a lot of programming languages here. You will need to read the "Getting started" or Introduction section of the language you are interested in, in order to understand what you can use it for.

Author

Eli

Web Developer