Learning a Computer Programming Language

In this day and age technology is changing our everyday lives especially computers. We all use computers for every day tasks such ordering food and sending emails. Software programs are what enable and allow us to perform all of the different tasks with computers. In order to create a software program you have to know how to program and to program you have to know a programming language. Also many programming languages have something called a compiler. The compiler assembles the code together and interprets it in a way the computer can understand. 

I know this all sounds confusing, but it isn't as complex as you think. Basically a program is a set of instructions that the computer interprets to perform tasks. When you write a program its like you're writing a manual filled with directions for a computer to follow. An example would be putting together a swing set. The first thing you would probably do is open up the box and take a look at the directions. Then you would follow the directions step by step to build the swing set. After you've followed and completed the directions the swing set should be fully assembled. The directions to assemble the swing set would be like the computer code for a program. The pieces of the swing set would be like the information provided by whoever is using the program. The actual act of putting the swing set together would be like the computer language compiler and the finished swing set would be like what the program actually generates for the user.

There are lots of people who want to learn how to program the problem is they don't know how to get started. Before you get started you need to have general understanding of programming, which I explained a little bit earlier in this article. Once you've done that you need to decide which programming language you want to learn. Literally there are thousands of programming languages. There are also types of languages(object-oriented language, structured language).  All this information is thrown at you and your not sure what to do. First choose a language that is easy to learn, that means choose one that isn't too complicated to write.

This means that there are little details to every line of code you write. For example in C++ you have to put semi-colons at the end of code lines and other stuff. If your first learning a language those extra details can be confusing.  A good language to start out with is Python. Python is basically like writing in English. Its easy to learn, but yet very powerful. Currently I'm an engineering student and I started learning computer languages in high school. For my senior project I wanted to learn a new language and build a computer game. I had a month to complete the project. I decided to teach myself python. I learned python in about 2 weeks and wrote the code for the game in about 2 weeks.

My project was pretty successful. Also the great thing about python is that it is free. All you have to do is download it (you can download it at python.org).However if you wish to make a game you will need to download something call pygame which is like a graphics module. I recommend getting a book to help teach u the language. You can find books online at places like amazon.com and other places for relatively cheap  If you don't want to buy a book there are free online tutorials. However the thing about buying  a book is , is that sometimes they come with Cd's that are very helpful. I definitely recommend learning python if your just learning how to program (its free, easy, and fairly powerful). Another programming language that I think just about everyone should learn is Visual Basic in Excel. It is an extremely useful language. The thing about VB in excel is that it is on most computers because most computers have excel. It's harder to learn than python, but is very much worth it.

You can write programs in VB that take care of repetitive tasks that waste time. Another great thing about VB in excel is that it doesn't compile code which means it cuts out the middle man and is efficient.  Hopefully this article is helpful and I recommend looking into the computer languages suggested.