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

Defining code quality

It is tough to define the meaning of quality when it comes to program code. The reason is that all developers will have their own opinion of what it means. One developer can argue that we should focus on writing readable code as it will be easier to understand and maintain and, by that, reduce the chance of us inserting any bugs into the code. Another developer could argue that we shall focus on writing compact code; that is, as few code lines as possible. Even if the code is harder to read, less code will give us fewer chances to introduce bugs in the code.

Here, the two developers would argue for the same thing – fewer bugs in the code – with two contradictory positions.

Let's look at a small example using Python as our language. We want to create a list that holds all possible combinations we can get by rolling two dice.

The first one will use more code, but it will be easier to understand:

two_dice = []
for d1 in range(1, 7)...