For Arduino, we will use the language processing. Quoting from www.processing.org, Processing is a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts.
Processing is an open source programming language and integrated development environment (IDE). Processing was originally built for designers and it was extensively used in electronics arts and visual design communities with the sole purpose of teaching the fundamentals of computer sciences in a visual context. This also served as the foundations of electronic sketchbooks.
From the previous example of gift wrapping, you noticed that before you need to bring in the paper and other stationery needed, you had to see the size of the problem at hand (the gift).