Ah, the joys of computer science. The late nights in the lab, the
screaming, the crashes, the frustration, the endless days filled with angst
as you try to remember why you got into this in the first place. All the
grim stories you've heard are probably true, but so is this: Programming
can be fun. Honest. Although computer science takes a lot of work and isn't
always a picnic, you can do some pretty extraordinary things with patience,
the right frame of mind, and the necessary skills.
In order to acquire these skills, you must first learn some fundamental
principles of computer science. Even though I will refer to JavaScript in
the following examples, these principles can be applied to almost any
language.
When programming, it's always a good idea to think of the program you
want to create in terms of its solution. In order to do this, you must have
a pretty solid understanding of the programming language that you'll be
working in and what you can do with it. Then you should sort out what
exactly you're trying to
accomplish. What do you want your program to do? What problem is it
solving? Next, divide the program into its various components. Then decide
how those components will fit together to execute the program. Once you
have all this sorted out, you can write each part of the program and put
them together. Some of
you eager beavers might want to start coding right away, but this can
result in a messy program and lot of frustration for you down the road. If
you don't plan ahead, you won't have a clear idea of what exactly you need
to do to complete the program, and this can lead to a lot of mistakes. Establishing this type of
process from the get-go is important because it makes it easier when you
need to tackle more complex problems.
In addition to your overall approach, there are also a number of common concepts and commands that are used in
every programming language, and mastering them is your first step. Let's start with variables.
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