I regard programming as the most interesting subject on the earth. But, to my dismay, most of the students undergoing some computer programming training course, freshers, and even experienced programmers I come across exhibit programming skills much below my expectations.

I think this happens because while beginning computer programming, students miss the right approach. Programming is a different type of subject – it requires a different approach. Beginning computer programming without really understanding how to learn programming is disastrous. But, surprisingly, most of the computer programming training courses I have seen begin abruptly, without addressing this first. If you search on Google, you will find numerous articles and tutorials for learning programming. But, I am yet to find one which really touches the basics, so that the foundation of the student is properly built.

What is Programming?

In simple terms, programming is teaching somebody how to do a task. Obvious examples are

• teaching a child how to add some numbers
• teaching a housewife how to prepare some recipe
• any teaching under the earth that you can imagine

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A computer program is made up of a chain of instructions a computer has to perform. These instructions may come with other important data that’s needed to carry out those instructions. Hence, the process of programming involves the defining of the instructions and the data. For you to come up with data for your computer, you should be familiar with computer programming basics and the datas three fundamental elements:

1. Instructions that need to be carried out.
2. Order in which the instructions are to be carried out.
3. Data needed to do the instructions.

The first stage of computer programming basically involves paper processes. In this phase, you don’t even need to work using a computer, however if you use a word processor that will enable you to write your work to a disk file rather than in a piece of paper. You need to do this so you can figure out clearly and more specifically, what you want your computer to perform before you begin to instruct the computer to execute it.

Bear in mind that the computer will follow the instructions exactly as given. It can’t say what you want; it can rather do what you want it to do. So before your program comes close to a computer, you need to do several steps which include:

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Computer programs are responsible for designing the instructions that help computers perform their operations, which involves knowing a series of programming languages. When an engineer needs a program designed, they will give their ideas to a programmer who will take these instructions and encode them into a programming language that a computer can understand, such as java or C++.

These professionals will often repair and modify existing programs in order to improve them, and they may use computer assisted software engineering in order to automate some of the process. Programs used will vary widely depending on the type of information that must be transcribed, and simple projects can be done in a few hours, while others can take years to create.

A computer tester will test a program by making sure that it produces the desired results, and they will keep testing it until the performance of the program is adequate. Computer programmers may also work on developing games and other software that is used for financial planning or entertainment, working with a development team in order to create a finished project.

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