Book Image

Computer Programming for Absolute Beginners

By : Joakim Wassberg
4 (1)
Book Image

Computer Programming for Absolute Beginners

4 (1)
By: Joakim Wassberg

Overview of this book

Learning how to code has many advantages, and gaining the right programming skills can have a massive impact on what you can do with your current skill set and the way you advance in your career. This book will be your guide to learning computer programming easily, helping you overcome the difficulties in understanding the major constructs in any mainstream programming language. Computer Programming for Absolute Beginners starts by taking you through the building blocks of any programming language with thorough explanations and relevant examples in pseudocode. You'll understand the relationship between computer programs and programming languages and how code is executed on the computer. The book then focuses on the different types of applications that you can create with your programming knowledge. You'll delve into programming constructs, learning all about statements, operators, variables, and data types. As you advance, you'll see how to control the flow of your programs using control structures and reuse your code using functions. Finally, you'll explore best practices that will help you write code like a pro. By the end of this book, you'll be prepared to learn any programming language and take control of your career by adding coding to your skill set.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction to Computer Programs and Computer Programming
6
Section 2: Constructs of a Programming Language
7
Chapter 5: Sequence – The Basic Building Block of a Computer Program
14
Section 3: Best Practices for Writing High-Quality Code
Appendix B: Dictionary
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W

Deciding what goes into a function

A function is a way for us to package a code block and give it a name. This is a good idea for several reasons. Back in Chapter 4, Software Projects and How We Organize Our Code, we talked about software modules and that dividing our code into small parts is wise as it will give us code that is easier to read, update, and maintain. The same reason applies to functions as they, too, package our code into smaller units. Another reason we want to use functions is so we can easily reuse parts of our code.

When deciding what will go into a function, we can have one rule of thumb. A function should always do only one thing and it will be named after what reflects that. What this means is that if we have a function called send_email_and_print_invoice, we are doing things wrong. This function does two distinct tasks and should, therefore, be two separate functions. We can rephrase this rule with a quote by Robert C. Martin, the author of an excellent...