Do you want to learn how to create computer programs with ease? Programs are softwares that provide set of ordered instructions that the computer performs.
Learning how to create computer programs takes time and practice, as with any other skill. Although, it won’t come easy, learning computer programming can be a rewarding experience. Once you get to understand the concepts of it.
Computer programming allow you to explore new possibilities, create innovations, and extend the functuality of existing programs.
Hence, Geeky Nigeria is endeavouring, with this “teach yourself” series to help start learning computer programming in the simplest way possible.
Introduction to Computer Programming
Computer Programming is the process of writing and sending instructions to the computer so it can execute or perform it. In programming, there are lines of code, and each line tells the computer what to do and how to do it.
Before you begin, you must understand the basics such as how to write a program or what programming languages are available. You should also consider your current level of technical know-how and which programming language you want to learn. This will help you to decide what to learn first.
Choose a programming language
Choosing the right programming language is an important step because it will influence what type of environment you work in. For example, if you want to work on Windows and Mac, then C++ is probably not for you.
The following are most popular programming languages:
- HTML and CSS
- Python
- Java
- JavaScript
- C
- C++
- C#
- Visual Basic
- PHP
- SQL
- R
- Swift
- Groovy
- Ruby
A guide to learning the listed programming language will be covered in subsequent articles.
Install a Code Editor
After you have decided on your preferred programming language, the next step is to install a code editor. A code editor is a program that allows you to write code without worrying about formatting. It will automatically format the code and turn it into something usable by the compiler.
There are a lot of code editors you can use, we recommend using Atom as your code editor. Atom is free, open-source, and cross-platform. It can be installed on Windows or Mac computers easily. Download Atom here.
Understand computer concepts and terminologies
There are many terminologies and computer concepts that you’ll want to get familiar with before you begin programming. At least familiarise yourself with the following basic computer programming terms, you can always know more:
- Operating system: the software that manages your computer’s hardware and resource.
- Processor: the central processing unit that processes all of your data and executes command.
- Memory: any storage space for programs or data—both RAM and hard drives are types of memory.
- Input/output (I/O): information fed into or pulled out of a device.
On the next teach yourself series, we will write on how to learn HTML and CSS language.
