🎉🎈We start with this introductory programming course 🥳🎈.
There are many programming courses available. This one, I warn you, is not going to be the shortest, nor the longest. Neither the simplest, nor the most complicated. It might not even be the best. But it’s the course that I wish I had read when I started in this.
The idea of this course is to give a different approach to programming. For this, we are not going to focus on a particular language, we are going to see programming as a process, a set of fundamental concepts and ideas.
Of course, during the course I will provide code examples in C++, C#, JavaScript or Python, among others. This way, we will discover the common aspects found in all programming languages, and the differences that make them unique.
But the most important thing is that we are going to learn to think like programmers. This means breaking down problems into logical steps, designing solutions, and translating those solutions into code.
As we progress, you will see that, regardless of the language you choose in the future, the foundation and the basics are common in all of them. If you know the basics, you will be able to tackle any programming challenge.
After that, learning one programming language or another will be much easier for you. In fact, if you have a strong foundation, transitioning from one language to another, or learning a new one, will require very little effort.
But first, we should see what programming is. We use the term almost every day, but what does “programming” a machine really mean?
What is programming?
Programming is a discipline that allows us to tell a machine how to solve a problem.
Through programming, we can create solutions that allow us to automate tasks, process data efficiently, build applications, and software systems.
Programming predates the existence of computers and programming languages. Before electronics, programming was done mechanically or hydraulically, for example.
Nowadays, most of the problems we are going to solve with a machine will require programming a computer or processor (it makes sense, they are some of our most powerful and versatile machines).
To make the task easier, we have created programming languages, which we use to “communicate with the processor” and rigorously instruct it on how to solve a problem.
Programming is not writing code
Throughout the course, we will continually talk about programming languages. In your life as a programmer, you will talk about them so much that it’s easy to forget one important thing.
Programming languages are tools, they are not the end.
Keep that in mind, programming is not simply writing lines of code in a specific language. Your job, the value you bring as a person 🧍 is not to write code. It’s to think and solve a problem.
But actually, that’s good news! Because programming is much broader, more interesting, and more fun than that. Programming means:
- Being able to analyze a problem
- Understanding its structure
- Abstracting the entities and relationships that compose it
- Determining the requirements that must be met
- Proposing a feasible and profitable solution
In all that list, so far I haven’t mentioned writing a single line of code. In fact, you could use an existing solution, a no-code solution, or even an AI could do part of the code for you, and you would still have programmed!
In summary, programming is a form of logical thinking and problem-solving. It is a skill that allows us to create creative and innovative solutions to complex problems.
If you want to learn or improve your programming skills, you can join us by reading the rest of the course. Gradually, I will be adding new content and articles to the course.