Python Crash Course for beginners | What is Programming?
What is Programming?
Lets start with what a Program is. A Program is simply a set instruction that tells the computer what to do. So Programming is the process of telling the computer what to do by writing a Program. According to Wikipedia, Programming is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific computing result or to perform a specific task.
These Programs are written with Programming languages, WAIT! what is a Programming language? Since computers don’t understand instructions in human language like English and French, we need a way to instruct the computer, in case you didn’t know computers only understand Zeros and Ones which is called Machine Language, this language is difficult to read and write and a normal human.
Now we have a problem :/ Computers don’t understand our language and we hate their language. To solve this we need a Translator that speaks a language we understand and translates to Machine language for the computer to understand. That is why we have High level languages, they are closer to the human languages, therefore easy to understand and write. Examples of these languages are Python, Java, C++, JavaScript. These languages have their specific purposes, some are best at something other languages can’t do easily. For instance Java is known as the best for scientific Application and Python makes it easy to manage data or storage systems, but both languages can do both tasks.
The Programming Language you should learn in 2021?
Honestly choosing a language should depend on what you want to do, but I personally think you should start with something simple, either you know what kind of program you would be writing or not. My reasons are:
- Most times, your interest change over time as you learn more, you understand better and choose another path you find more interesting.
- It is easier to pick up a new language after you have learnt one really well, you already know what programming really is, how it works and why you do what you do, at this point it easier to decide if you want to change the language or not.
Python……
On that note, when thinking of something simple and powerful, Python seems to be the first on the list, so this course will be based on Python as it is widely accepted as the best language to learn first because it is fast, easy to use and run, and it gives you in depth understanding of programming techniques without having to deal with smaller detail that are often important in other languages.
Next we would install python and start getting into more interesting stuffs. Have fun, Believe in yourself, don’t think programming is a thing you can learn just by reading, you need to practice more than you read.
