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

Iteration with the while loop

Let's assume that we want to write a small dice-guessing game. The user will need to enter a guess between 1 and 6. The computer will then roll a dice and let the user know whether their guess was correct or not. The program will then allow the user to guess again, and again, and again. However, if the user enters a value of 0 as their guess, we will let them exit the game.

We have no way of knowing how many times the user wants to play the game. They might give up after the first try or go on for hundreds of attempts (which is not that likely as this is a rather dull game, but you get the point).

A for loop would not work that well for us here as we would need to say how many times the user would need to play before we let them out of the loop. Instead, another type of loop that is perfect for this scenario is the while loop. This loop works on a condition instead of a count. If the condition is true, it will continue to loop.

The structure...