Wiki Page, AP CSP: What is Computer Programming?

Wiki Page
2016-07-21T11:18:33-06:00

A computer program is a set of instructions that tells the computer what to do.

There are many ways of telling the computer to do something; how you do it can matter. A computer program is a way of telling another human being what you want the computer to do.

The key to computer programming is to get a handle on some fundamental ideas on how to program; programming can be really simple and/or complex.

5 Fundamental Ideas for Programming

Computer programs are created in order to tell the computer what to do. These programs are created in order to solve some problem.

There are 5 fundamental or simple ideas for creating computer programs.

1. Create a list of instructions; this is called "sequential processing".

2. Breaking things up into smaller pieces. This means if you have a complex problem that you want the computer to solve, you break up the problem into smaller pieces so that it is easier to solve. This is called:

1. "problem decomposition", or

2. "stepwise refinement" or,c. top-down design.

3. Computing a result. Computers were first created as calculators, to solve math problems quickly. We also do this in computer programming. This is known as a "function".

4. IF-Else statements. This means you have a condition the problem has to meet in order to do something, or else it does something else. This is known as " conditional-execution".

5. Repeating behavior. In computer programming, many things repeat over and over. This is known as:

1. "looping", or

2. "iteration".

These five fundamental or simple ideas is what you will learn in order to program! We may not be able to do all five during this workshop, but at least you have the knowledge of what you need to learn in order to program.

Alice: A Computer Program for Learning How to Create Computer Programs

Alice is a program that teaches us how to give the computer instructions so that it can do something or solve a problem in a 3-D environment. You will learn to create computer programs by creating animated stories or video games. You will learn the 5 simple ideas for programming and include them in your animated stories or video games.