WHAT IS THIS SO CALLED PROGRAMMING?

PROGRAMMING IS EVERYWHERE

Programming is literally all around us. From ordering takeout to streaming movies, codes enable everyday actions in our lives. Technology companies are no longer just perceived as software companies. Instead, they are delivering food to our homes, arranging taxis, influencing the outcome of presidential elections, and acting as personal trainers.

Definition of Programming

Programming is writing code (a set of instructions) to be interpreted and executed by a computer or other electronic device. These instructions allow you to program and tell your application how to behave or function.

Simply put, programming is making a computer perform a series of instructions. If you have ever cooked from a recipe, you can think of yourself as the computer and the programmer as the creator of the recipe. Recipe authors provide a set of instructions for you to read and follow. The more complex the instruction, the more complex the result!

How to Program?

Programmers use programming languages to write their code and there are many programming languages depending on what kind of job you are doing. Programmers start by writing what is called source code using a code editor or IDE. It is a collection of code written in a programming language that other programmers can read.

Source code must be translated into machine language so that the machine can understand the instructions and execute the program. The process of converting this source code into machine language is called compiling.

(Examples of compiled programming languages are C and C++.)

There are other languages that don't use compilers. Instead, these languages use interpreters that read and execute code.

(Examples of interpreted programming languages would be JavaScript and PHP.)

Once the code is executed, it can run computer programs. There are many types of computer programs, such as word processors, database systems, video games, and websites. These computer programs allow you to interact with various software devices and services, such as phones, websites, and the computer itself.

Types of Programming Languages

There are hundreds of programming languages. Developers first consider the needs of their application to determine which language is appropriate to use.

Some of these languages are primarily used in the development arena, while others are more general-purpose programming languages.

Programming languages fall into different categories. Here is a list of some categories;

• Machine Language - A low-level language consisting of 0's and 1's (binary). High-level languages ​​are compiled into machine language so that computers can execute the code.
• Assembly language – A low-level language compiled by an assembler. Assemblers translate human code into machine code.
• Procedural Languages ​​- In this approach, a computer performs a series of steps before executing a program. ​​(such as Go and Julia)
• Scripting languages  – These languages ​​often don't need to be compiled, they need to be interpreted. Interpreted means that the interpreter reads the code and executes it instead of compiling it to machine code.​​(such as JavaScript and PHP)
• Functional Languages  - This works on the idea of ​​building complex programs through collections of small functions. (such as Haskell and Scala)
• Object-Oriented Languages ​​- These work on the idea of ​​building programs around collections of objects. (such as Java or Python)

Here are some of the languages defined briefly;

• Java is an object-oriented language and is used in many areas such as Software Development, Gaming, Web Development, and App Development.
• Python can be used in many areas such as data analysis, machine learning, and web development.
• PHP is an open-source and general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.
• JavaScript is primarily used in web development and is usually the first programming language new web developers learn. JavaScript can also be used for mobile and game development.
• R is a language created by statisticians for statistics, specifically for working with data. It is a language for statistical computing and data visualizations used widely by business analysts, data analysts, data scientists, and scientists.
• C is a statically typed programming language, which gives it an edge over other dynamic languages. It is generally used to create hardware devices, OS, drivers, kernels, etc.

There are many other software paradigms and languages not covered in this article. But it should be a good start for different kinds of programming languages.

Careers and Salaries

So let's get down to the section we've all been waiting for[drum-roll]..... I'll show you some of the career roles depending on which programming language you use.

As you can see there are many career paths you can take by learning just one language,

so let's see salaries.

In general, the more experience a computer programmer has, the higher his/her salary will be. Along with other factors(like location), salaries can also increase as you become more specialized.