First Step: Computer Programming

Computer programming is a process that leads from an original formulation of a computing problem to executable computer programs.

If you are not familiar with computers, you might be asking yourself, “What the hell does that mean?”  Computer programming is writing software that involves processes and procedures by using algorithms. Basically, computer programming is writing down the steps it takes to do something.

al•go•rithm (noun):  a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem solving operations.

Programming involves developing a list of instructions, much like how you bake a cake or even construct a building.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my freshman year high school Geometry teacher, Mr. Smith, was teaching me the foundation of coding through the use of the English language.  On the very first day of class, he gave us an assignment to write out the steps to make a peanut and butter sandwich.

Objective: Students will write specific and sequential steps on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Procedure: Students will write a very detailed and step-by-step paragraph on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The students will then input (read) their instructions to the computer (teacher). The teacher will then “make” the programs, being sure to do exactly what the students said.

Sounds easy right.  Well, we thought that it was going to be a breeze.  How hard could it be to write out the steps to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?  Challenging. But it turned to be a very effective lesson.  One that has stuck with me.

The class worked in teams of three to fours students, and we were given about five minutes to write down a set of instructions after which we handed back to our teacher.

1. Take a slice of bread
2. Put peanut butter on the slice
3. Take a second slice of bread
4. Put jelly on that slice
5. Press the slices of bread together

What ensued was absolutely hilarious, Mr. Smith acted out the set of instructions as literal as possible, because a computer does not have common sense. This resulted in him taking a slice of bread, putting the jar of peanut butter on top on the bread, taking the second slice of bread, putting the jar of jelly on top that slice, then picking up both slices of bread and smooshing them together.  Of course, this was not the desired result.  So, we would reconvene in our groups and try again.

Now, at the time, Mr. Smith framed this exercise toward the steps need to in order to accurately solve Geometry problems, but this is essentially a computer program – a set of instructions for your computer. Their are many different types of programming languages that range from machine language (Intel X86) to low-level language (C) to high-level language (Python, PHP, Ruby).

What language should you work with?

Perhaps Python.  First, it is pretty easy to learn, unlike C, and Python can be a useful stepping stone since it is an object oriented language like C++, PERL, Ruby, Java, and many other key programming languages.

Next, Python is insanely popular.  If you do a Google search for “companies that use Python”, you will notice that most big tech giants utilize Python.

Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Yahoo, NASA, IBM, Instagram, etc.

Some additional benefits for learning Python also include:

• fairly easy to read
• primarily used for data mining
• more organized and productive
• open source language and community driven

Stayed tuned for My First Python Course:  Python for Everybody