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

Understanding structured programming

Structured programming is what we have looked at in this book. Loops, conditionals, and functions define the flow of a program that uses this paradigm. If you have read the previous chapters of this book, then they should all be familiar to you by now.

Structured programming is a branch of a family of paradigms called imperative programming. Languages that use the concepts of imperative programming use statements to change the program's state.

If we look at that definition, we must first learn what statements and program state are.

Statements

In the first part of this definition, we'll talk about statements. A statement, as described in Chapter 5, Sequence – The Basic Building Block of a Computer Program, in the Understanding statements section, this can be viewed as a command that we give to the application. In natural language, we have something that is called the imperative mood. The imperative mood is something...