No matter your age, activities and ambitions, you may be interested in using a computer today or in very closer coming days. And then the very first question of understanding of the "How to do this or that" will rise. In this post I will make that easy for you to understand and know what to do and where to step in without breaking your neck.
Make sure before you start anything to watch the following video:
Be aware
Yes, truly the computer world is funny and why not magic, but it is a lot of effort people have been putting into to make things happen. And my awareness for you is to know that by entering into this world, you are also going to contribute in many ways in how to make this world better using computer technologies.
The other thing I need to drag your attention into is there is no smoke without fire. You can become that smoke that everybody sees from everywhere, but you have to make your fire.
Most youth that have succeeded in our new generations who did it through technology are many and it's not going to stop until I don't know when.
So, the game is in your hand, I will try to be your guide all along with pleasure.
What is programming ?
I don't know lol.
Of course I know, just kidding. Otherwise why will you be here. I have an understanding of programming, and that is what I am going to share with you.
Programming is an action of creating programs, and a program, also know as a software, is an interface or a platform which allows a user(you) to interact with a computer. Who doesn't know a computer here ? Ah OK, I am happy that we all do know.
So, firstly as a programmer, you will be creating programs or software. What you need to understand now is what exactly a program is and how to go about creating it.
What is a program or software?
Great! we all know that our computers work with electricity(sorry for the bills lol) and it works like your light in your room. When you need to turn it on, you don't talk to it; like hey guy go on! lol. Rather you go and press the switch and it turns on and if it was on and you want to turn it off, you will just change the position of the switch to the opposite.
It is the same thing with your computer. Now imagine there where no switch or a button for you to press on and turn on your light or start your computer, they won't be a way for you to interact with it.
So, the switch of our light and the start button of your computer are what is called interfaces or platforms: It is an intermediate in between two entities of different types(or nature). It helps them to communicate.
From now on, you understand the fact that a program is an interface between you and a computer. But you will ask me, so where is it , I can't see it ?.
In fact, the notion of software is very huge and some time vague. I will be writing an other tutorial on that particular point.
If you have been in touch with a computer before, you must have typed some text or played music, seen a movie or why not checked your emails and etc.... All these activities, you made them using platforms that are specialized into a particular task you were performing. And there are programs/software. Definitively, when you use a computer, you always use software to perform you tasks or needs.
- Here are some examples of software to freshen up your mind:
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Video Lan or VLC
- Internet Explorer
- Chrome
- Firefox
I believe you could recognize some inside
So, as a programmer, your job will not stop on using them, it will be creating them, and I am not asking you to create the ones I have cited here. But you could do better if you wish to.
The next question you may ask me now is
How do I create the software?
Yes, relax. I was about to tell you how you can create you own revolutionary software.
Before, let me tell you that here is where you have to force small. Because you will have to learn what we call programming language(s).
In fact, remember I said that programs are interfaces and they help you interact with a computer, so imagine them as interpreters like in human communication systems.
What I am trying to tell you is that assuming you are a Chinese guy and your computer is a french guy, you cannot understand each other directly, you need an interpreter, an intermediate between you and the computer.
You cannot directly dialog with your computer and ask him to create a software/application for you, and that is where the programming language enters into the game. When you address to a computer using a programming language, it understands you.
hmm! so will I talk to my computer with my mouth ?!
No, not exactly, what we are going to do is: We will be using the programming language to create/generate software of our choice. We will use some special phrases offered by the programming language and the computer will obey and fulfill our desires - create an interface/software.
Ok, Mr too know, in which school do I learn this language ?
Good question. First, it is not one programming language, there are thousands of them.
Whaaat ! and you want to put me into that?!
Yes, I am sorry for that news; you can check it here by yourself :List of programming languages. Again, I am sorry for that bad news.
But don't be discouraged because the good news is that you don't need to know all of them, just one is enough and you have many places and ways to learn it; you can learn it at home for example or on Lancecourse.com of course. And some of them even look alike, so by knowing one it is like you know the other ones.
To reduce the load, here is a pretty list of the most commonly used once : C, C++, C#, PHP, JAVA, JAVASCRIPT, PERL, HTML, CSS. WHen you know C (read it "Ce"), you already know more than 30% of C++ (read it "Ce plus plus"). So you can see how they are linked to each other. Easily you find yourself mastering many of them.
The last point I will talk of in the last part of this section 2 will be the following question
Which one do I chose and which one is the best?
But,..this is two questions!
Ok, I will answer.
- The Choice
Concerning the one/ones to chose, seriously, there is no standard choice. The choice depends on what you are planning to become in your career of programmer. If I will use my own example, I did C first, for some few months and I joined C++ to it because the two languages are almost the same. After that I went to have a look at Java, honestly, I didn't stay there for long, maybe in the future I could go back. From there I paid a visit to Javascript, Ruby, Perl and PHP, and I felt in love and that is why you have me with you today. Nevertheless, for further comparison, head straight here : Comparison of programming languages or here Measuring programming language popularity
That was my own experience with programming languages. Now I will provide you a small list of sectors and languages you may learn for it.
Web designing : HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT
Web development: Ruby, PHP, JAVASCRIPT, Perl, Python
Software development: C, C++, Java, C#, XML, Python
Database administration : SQL, Oracle
- Which one is the best?
Seriously, this is not a topic.I have met students arguing on that matter several times. This one will say I am in Java class because it is the best and the other one will protest, my own is the best because C is the most used and bla bla bla bla.... I beg, as the purpose of this article is to help you make a good choice, drop this matter down. Don't fall into this mistake.
The truth is that all programming languages are good(BEST) and useful because they were created for a purpose and they do fulfill that. Moreover, it is the programmer that makes a programming language a good tool; better the programmer is the best the language he uses is.
The other point is that, the choice of programming language usually depends on many factors and mostly on the needs and requirement of functional specifications of the project(software) your are working on.
So, any language you chose to learn, learn it very well and become the best in it, you will get jobs for it.
Good habits to have
In any discipline, there are rules and policies to follow. As a beginner, there are things you need to know as guide lines. Here are some good habits you can apply to yourself from now on:
Read also: 8 Tips to become a great PHP programmer in a week
-
Never let anybody choose a programming language for you You have to make the choice with your own will, if somebody else chooses for you, in time you may lose the taste. Also you cannot decide to learn a language because a friend is doing it. It is a mistake. Study languages you are interested in and see they qualities and mostly how people are talking of it ( we call it "The community" of the language) or go here to check: TIOBE INDEX . Check also the availability of resources(tutorials and training) on the language. And finally compare it with the sector(Medicine, Business, Accounting, Etc.) in which you are going to use it. Go here and check salaries in some programming languages mostly used: RANKED: The Highest-Paying Programming Languages
-
Learn every day Once you know what you want to learn and where you are going to use it, you have to apply yourself seriously. It is by applying yourself you can understand and discover.
-
Opt for good results Whatever you are doing, always target the best result. Never do something for just " it works ". Always ask yourself, "Is that the best solution ? ".
-
Never give up This is a serious point. Note, nothing in this life is simple or easy. You need to have that in mind. You meet a lot of obstacles and mistakes but always keep on trying until you get to your desire.
-
Join groups Programming is a huge world. You can't learn everything alone by yourself. And be sure of something, we are millions of programmers in this life; the probability that somebody else has had the same problem with you is high. So join programming clubs, go and meet other programmers; exchange with them, you will learn a lot and why not, you will also be helpful to somebody.
Share and Don't be shy.
Good resources for beginner
Check out: Start learning programming in good hands
I can't say that I have said all you will need. And as I was saying, there are others out there with their knowledge and experiences. You need to go to them and learn and gain better basement. So here I will list some resources you may need on your way.
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikipedia has a lot of document in their full sizes that will be very useful for you to discover. The authenticity of the site makes its content credible.
There is no doubt that this is going to be your best friend in this quest. It is the first search engine. Any thing you need to know just ask google. He knows better than anybody.
- code.org
A very good site. Start programming like a kid in all programming languages. With this web site you are going to end up as a genius. Note that this web site has been recommended by the CEO of facebook : mark zuckerberg
- programmingbasics.org
Clear, learn basics in programming; good to complete this post
- guidetoprogramming.com
This page is for regular people interested in programming
- Tiobe Index
The TIOBE Programming Community index is an indicator of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month.
I can't list all of them and if anyone know one that is not in the list, he can just post it in the discussion under this tutorial. After all you already know Google, he is your best friend from now on; you just ask him anything you want.
Conclusion
Briefly we've seen that to use a computer we need platforms to interact with and these platforms are software. To create a software, we use programming languages and we have many of them; every programmer makes his choice according to his taste and his ambition. moreover all programming languages are good. To finish we've seen a small list of good resources for better starting.
Thanks for reading. Please, if you liked this post share it with your friends.
Last updated 2024-01-11 UTC