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

Selection with the if statement

When using selection in our programs, we could argue that the application uses some sort of intelligence because it can now make decisions and do different things depending on various conditions. So, how can we make our applications smart? Well, the easiest way is with the use of if statements, which are, sometimes, just referred to as conditions. In most languages, they will have a similar structure.

If we write a small program that asks the user for their age, the first part might look something like this:

print "Enter your age: "
input age

Here, the program prints Enter your age: on the screen. The user then enters an age and presses the Enter key to confirm the input. The value entered will be stored in the age variable.

Now we want to give different feedback depending on the age entered:

if age < 18 then
    print "You are young"
end_if

Here, we have the condition where we check whether...