The basic of basic in programming...
 

Dear All,

Hello! I am a programming apprentice. I would like to gaher from all guru's opinions and experience to
clarify and define the following question.

***What is the basic of basic in computer programming?***
Because everything start from the basic scratch. I would like to build a concrete foundation.
Like playing badminton, need to practice right pose first and then develop right running strategy before really going to play in the field.

one can dry run the program in the brain?
flow chart writing?
data structure understanding?
algorithm?
or anything additional?

Thanks for your kindness!

Simon

The "basic of basic" of anything is energy. Put energy into certain forms, and it becomes what we know as sub-atomic particles. These interact in certain ways, and are associated with energy, in ways that can be described mathematically. Based on that description it is possible to build a model of how the main building blocks of atoms (electrons, protons, and neutrons) behave. From that point, it is possible to build a model of how atoms behave. Then, models describing basic chemical and physical characteristics of matter may be built. These may be used to build models of simple electronic components, which can be used to build a model of a computer. Once you have a model of a computer, you can build a model of how to control it. One of those models will involve machine instructions, and sets of machine instructions, which can be used in various ways to assemble something called software.

If all you want to do is write a "Hello world" program, starting from the "basic of basics" may take a while. Alternatively, you might want to read some introductory materials on computer programming.

I agree and disagree with you, grumpy. The basics of hardware may have their roots in matter and energy, but computing is largely mathematical in nature. If you want to start from the basics for computing, then you'd want to start with Lambda Calculus or Universal Turing Machines and work from there.

Personally, I prefer Lambda Calculus over Turing Machines, as it seems to me that building complex programs using a Turing Machine would start to get rather complex, whilst because Lambda Calculus is based around the composition of functions, abstraction comes more naturally. Haskell is a programming language modelled around Lambda Calculus, so I'd advise using that once you have a grip on the theory.

Okay, I kid; starting from the very basics is usually not a good idea in any complex subject, be it physics, mathematics or programming, and I wouldn't advise starting programming with Lambda Calculus! Typically the place to start is in the middle; for instance, in mathematics one starts with simple arithmetic, with the rules that make it up taken for granted. It is not until University that students will start to explore why 1 + 1 = 2 (and for good reason).

The middle of programming involves basic structures like if-statements, for-loops and while-loops, variables and functions. The theories underlying these methods of specifying computation are typically rather complex, and best left for later.

This all said, I did run across one person who said he learned programming starting with Haskell, so perhaps it is possible. I'd have thought starting with something like Python would be easier, though :)

Necessity inspires invention.

I would consider having the ability to solve problems, having an analytical mindset, and having a genuine interest in the field would be the basics of programming. Without those things in place not much else would even factor in.

Summary and difficulties in learning a scripting language
 

Thanks for your discussion!

If I make a summary, the basic of basic are:
1. learning motivations (the motivation energy generated from the depth of interest to the topics)
2. knowledge of arithmetic and calculations
3. logical and analytical thinking to understanding
4 creative and graphical ability to solve the problem

Well, I have met some difficulties in the learning processing.
I am a Flash designer. While learning Flash, I found that the coding practice and the limitation of Flash is so hard to predict the outcome result.
There are many cases that the logical thinking is right but it just not working out. What techniques or knowledge should I have to cope with such problems?

Thanks for sharing!
Simon