Table of Contents
Written by Andrei Guevorkian on 2023-10-02.
- Tracing the evolution of computing devices.
- The transformation of user interaction over time.
- Distinguishing features that define a "computer".
- The importance and role of binary in computation.
- Delving into the fundamental parts of a computer: Input, Processing Unit, Memory & Storage, and Output.
- Distinguishing between tangible hardware and intangible software.
- Understanding Operating Systems: Bridging the gap between software and hardware.
- The File System: Drawing parallels with a school locker analogy.
- Exploring the intricacies of File Naming, File Path, and Working Directory.
- What is programming and why is it important?
- Real-life examples of how programming impacts our daily life.
- The mindset of a programmer: Logical, creative, and persistent.
- The importance of clearly defining a problem.
- Strategies to understand complex problems:
- Breaking them down into smaller parts: The Divide and Conquer approach.
- Visualizing with diagrams or flowcharts.
- Activity: Solving a larger problem by breaking it down.
- What is an algorithm?
- Introduction to flowcharts and their symbols.
- How to convert a problem into a flowchart.
- Activity: Designing a flowchart for a simple daily task.
- Understanding conditions.
- Introducing the if, else, and elif constructs.
- Introduction to logical operators.
- Activity: Creating simple decision-based programs.
- Understanding loops.
- Understanding the structure of a loop.
- Recognizing when and why to use loops.
- Activity: Representing a task you do every day that's repetitive in code.
- Understanding variables and constants.
- Delving into basic data types: integers, strings, floats, booleans.
- Assigning values and understanding variable scope.
- Activity: Designing programs that make use of various data types and variables.
- The significance of modularizing code.
- Understanding functions.
- Understanding parameters, arguments, and return mechanisms.
- Activity: Designing a program using modular components.
- Introducing arithmetic operations.
- Combining all the concepts.
- Designing a more complex program.
- Activity: Designing programs combining all concepts from previous chapters.
- Common errors in programming and how to spot them.
- Introduction to debugging techniques.
- The importance of testing your code.
- Activity: Finding the errors in a given snippet of code (pseudocode, logic-based).
- Writing clean and understandable code.
- Commenting and documentation.
- Activity: Rewriting a given messy code snippet to make it clean and readable.
- Introduction to more advanced topics: Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Game Development, Robotics, Web Development.
- Encouragement to practice and delve deeper into areas of interest.
- The lifelong learning journey of a programmer.
- Delving into the Terminal: A developer's command center.
- Git: The cornerstone of version control and collaboration.
- Mastering Google: Leveraging the search giant for efficient problem-solving.
- Code Editors: Crafting and refining your code.