Welcome to the Field — Grab a spade

A programming guide…

I want to thank everyone for their feedback and contribution to my last post. The reviews were touching. This post is more tech-related and is dedicated to the newbies. This content is from my perspective, there are thousands of materials out there and I will drop some links with the videos.

You are thinking about going into this broad field and you seem confused. It’s fine you won’t get lost, if you get lost we will find you and if we don’t find you… For today let’s start with computer programming.

Computer programming is the process of designing and building an executable computer program for accomplishing a specific computing task.

Okay oh! We have heard. Let me break it down. It is like telling the computer what to do just that you have to speak the language of the computer. Savvy?

Who can be a programmer? Anybody. You just need a brain and a computer and guidance. What does a programmer do?

Computer programmers write and test the code that allows computer applications and programs to function. They may translate the designs of software developers and engineers into workable code

A lot of people consider this a big deal and say it’s only for geniuses but I think it’s just like any other thing we do. The first time you played a video game, you were probably looking at the controller and now you don’t anymore or when you were trying to learn that musical instrument you play now (I play the Tambourine).

Programming does not just involve writing code. At the most basic level, programming is a broader discipline whereas coding is a narrower one. Coding involves writing many lines of code to create a software program. Programming involves not only coding but also other tasks, such as analyzing and implementing algorithms.

We can group the different types of programming based on the type of program you are creating. You might be creating something for the web, or a Desktop application or even a mobile application. It could be web-based, meaning that it will run on the internet. It could be a game or even something related to Artificial intelligence or Machine learning. For all this, you need to learn a programming Language (The Code).

A programming language is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer or computing device to perform specific tasks.

Factors to consider when choosing a programming language.

The color of your hair:- The color of your hair is very important for proper programming… okay, I play too much.

Choosing a programming language.

The type of program you are building is a major factor. No programming language is more powerful than the other but they are sometimes built to handle specific tasks thus, making some languages seem stronger.

During my four years course in the university studying Computer science, I had the opportunity to work with about four programming languages and this is how they all forged me. How I was taught and what you should know. PS: I might be a little blunt.

VB.Net(Visual Basic): You will be taught or rather you’ll be told how to create variables and initialize them. Then they’ll make you write a program that sums two numbers or subtracts and in your exam tell you to write a program that multiplies two numbers. Your parents might be at home feeling their child is creating the next big thing but they don’t know all you learned that semester was “MsgBox(“The sum of 2 and 5 is 7”)”.

VB.Net is a simple, modern, object-oriented computer programming language developed by Microsoft to combine the power of .NET Framework and the common language run-time with the productivity benefits that are the hallmark of Visual Basic.

You can do anything with it. Start there if you want to and there is no problem. I took extra classes with a tutor which was extracurricular. I created a Geometry calculator, text-to-speech, and an Actuarial Mathematics calculator. We also built a web browser together. It is quite powerful.

If you want to start learning. You can click here

C++ (Pronounced C plus plus): I tried, I tried and it just didn’t enter but I realized something later. The lecturer that took this course was so good at teaching. We learned everything from short forms to almost all the preprocessor directives and what they do. but how can it be done? we never got to know 😦

C++ is a high-level programming language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs. C++ adds object-oriented features to its predecessor, C. C++ is one of the most popular programming language for graphical applications, such as those that run in Windows and Macintosh environments.

I really love this language but I’ll recommend that you get a hang of the basic concepts of programming before diving into this.

If you want to start learning. You can click here

Java

Java actually means coffee hence the logo. I loved Java at first but never found the IDE (App for writing the code). With C++ it was easier because i could use the same IDE for Visual Basic. When I got it eventually, I wrote Java for a little while before discovering that I was a very visual person then I kinda lost interest. Our lecturer was very smart but the same problem we had in C++.

Java is a programming language that produces software for multiple platforms. When a programmer writes a Java application, the compiled code (known as bytecode) runs on most operating systems (OS), including Windows, Linux and Mac OS..

Java is very powerful and flexible and you can use it for almost anything. Starting there is not a bad idea.

If you want to start learning. You can click here

Assembly Language

I repeat don’t start here if you’re new. you can take a look at it but there are some concepts you need to know first especially about hardware. Unlike other languages this one is low level, meaning it is more abstract than the rest. The lecturer tried but from the class, I learned Assembly language is hard to understand.

An assembly language is a low-level programming language designed for a specific type of processor.

I loved this language and did so much research when I was trying to learn it, I lacked guidance. I tried to find IDE’s for the language and scribble lines of code. So that was it with this language.

If you decide you want to know about it. Click here. I went through it before I recommended it. It is very good.

HTML & CSS (Web)

I learned this on my own, but it was taught in school. I’d rather not talk about how it was taught. So this is not bad for a start too. It is visual from day one and becomes interesting with time. It has a different learning curve for everyone so just start and flow.

HTML, HyperText Markup Language, gives content structure and meaning by defining that content as, for example, headings, paragraphs, or images. CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a presentation language created to style the appearance of content — using, for example, fonts or colors.

The both are for designing static websites, That is websites with little to no functionality. They are very good to start with if you love design or want to create awesome websites.

If you want to start learning. You can click here. Follow the channel and watch his videos. If you want to do full time web development. Start with this video here.

JavaScript

I wouldn’t say we were taught this but I learned it on my own along with HTML and CSS. JS is what you need for functionality and response from your web page.

An object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers.

It took me time to connect with JavaScript but when i did, it was awesome. Java Script talks to you (Now I’m being dramatic) but I think you should really go into it if you love web related applications.

Go to this channel and follow him up. Traversy Media

PHP

I think they mentioned it in class but a lot of people were really into it. I have never tried it but will recommend it for a first because of it’s structure.

PHP or hypertext preprocessor is defined as an HTML-embedded scripting language that is used to write web pages.

It is also for the web. You can build blogs and other web applications with it.so you can follow up here

Python

We weren’t taught this but this is considered as one of the best if not the best language to start with. I have been thinking of attempting it. So Python is good to go.

Python is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language. Created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991, Python’s design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its notable use of significant whitespace.

Well, if you decide to learn this then click here. It is just a beginners course.

There are so many programming languages and you are not restricted to one, there is still C#, Ruby, TypeScript, Kotlin, Rust, Go, R , Node.js and so much more. You are not restricted to learning one and you can always switch just get the concepts down. So I hoped you get a spade.

I might start a series on learning python (We can learn together) or about the labor market here in the US, still thinking. Part 2 of my last post will be out soon.

Thanks. Let’s do this some other time 🙂