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

Web applications

A web application is a special form of client-server application where we have a client that interacts with a user in the form of a web page. The server is responsible for producing the results the user will see and to accept and process the input from the user.

This process works something like this:

  1. Imagine that you visit a website and are prompted to log in. You enter your username and password. When you press the Log in button, the information you entered is sent to the server:
    Figure 3.5 – When logging in to a web application, your credentials will be sent to the server

    Figure 3.5 – When logging in to a web application, your credentials will be sent to the server

  2. The server requests the information stored in a database about this user:
    Figure 3.6 – The web server requests the user information stored in a database

    Figure 3.6 – The web server requests the user information stored in a database

  3. The database returns the information it has for this user. Note that usually, the password will not be stored in plain text as illustrated here, but for clarity, we ignore that in this scenario:
    Figure 3.7 – The database returns the information

    Figure 3.7 –...