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Why do we Program?

Computers want to be helpful

  • Computers are built to do things for us

    • Designed and wired so that it has one question: what do you want to do next?

  • But, we need to speak their language to describe what we want done.

  • Computer users just have to pick which programs (instructions) they want to use out of the different program someone else put in the computer.

  • A programmer’s job is to serve the user and act as an intermediary between the hardware and the user

    • The hardware of a computer itself isn’t that intelligent

Programmers Anticipate Needs

  • Professional programmers trying to sell software also need to imagine what the world might want

  • iPhone apps are a market

    • but the app stores are also places where software can be built and exchanged

  • They have over 3 billion downloads

  • Many programmers have left their jobs to be full-time iPhone app developers

  • Programmers know the ways of their program

Why be a programmer?

  • To get some task done

    • Example: clean up survey data

  • To produce something for others to use - a programming job

    • Example: Fix a performance problem in the Sakai software

    • Or adding a guestbook to a website

  • For professional programmers, the motivation may be to build something for everyone else to use

  • The main difference between writing code for someone and writing code for yourself is the rigor

  • Program: a sequence of stored instructions

    • The computer itself at the lowest level of hardware is not that smart, but there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of giving it the right instructions.

Programs for Humans…

  • An example of a program for humans is the macarena!

    • You do the dance moves at the correct beat of the music

  • Human beings can operate in an error filled world

    • We can automatically fix errors in text or speech based on what we know

  • Computers can not operate in an error filled world

    • So programs have to be perfect

Programs for Python…

  • One thing that computers are good but humans are bad at is text analysis

    • This is something we delegate to computers

Why do we Program?

Computers want to be helpful

  • Computers are built to do things for us

    • Designed and wired so that it has one question: what do you want to do next?

  • But, we need to speak their language to describe what we want done.

  • Computer users just have to pick which programs (instructions) they want to use out of the different program someone else put in the computer.

  • A programmer’s job is to serve the user and act as an intermediary between the hardware and the user

    • The hardware of a computer itself isn’t that intelligent

Programmers Anticipate Needs

  • Professional programmers trying to sell software also need to imagine what the world might want

  • iPhone apps are a market

    • but the app stores are also places where software can be built and exchanged

  • They have over 3 billion downloads

  • Many programmers have left their jobs to be full-time iPhone app developers

  • Programmers know the ways of their program

Why be a programmer?

  • To get some task done

    • Example: clean up survey data

  • To produce something for others to use - a programming job

    • Example: Fix a performance problem in the Sakai software

    • Or adding a guestbook to a website

  • For professional programmers, the motivation may be to build something for everyone else to use

  • The main difference between writing code for someone and writing code for yourself is the rigor

  • Program: a sequence of stored instructions

    • The computer itself at the lowest level of hardware is not that smart, but there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of giving it the right instructions.

Programs for Humans…

  • An example of a program for humans is the macarena!

    • You do the dance moves at the correct beat of the music

  • Human beings can operate in an error filled world

    • We can automatically fix errors in text or speech based on what we know

  • Computers can not operate in an error filled world

    • So programs have to be perfect

Programs for Python…

  • One thing that computers are good but humans are bad at is text analysis

    • This is something we delegate to computers

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