Basic Programming

Programming is the process of taking an algorithm and encoding it into a notation, a programming language, so that it can be executed by a computer. Although many programming languages and many different types of computers exist, the important first step is the need to have the solution. Without an algorithm there can be no program.

Computer science is not the study of programming. Programming, however, is an important part of what a computer scientist does. Programming is often the way that we create a representation for our solutions. Therefore, this language representation and the process of creating it becomes a fundamental part of the discipline.

In this book, we will be using a programming language called Python. Python is a modern, easy-to-learn, object-oriented programming language. It has a powerful set of built-in data types and easy-to-use control constructs.

Next section is a crash course in Python.