Lessons I've Learned From Coding
I have been coding since I was in middle school, with the entry point of HTML, CSS, and web design. I didn't start out good, my early work must've looked quite simple and clunky. But from zero knowledge, I learned through tutorial sites like W3 and Code Academy how to understand the structure, design, and functionality of web pages. I loved the control and immediate feedback I got from entering in data and parameters and getting a corresponding result, as well as learning how to troubleshoot, or debug, issues with the code when things didn't turn out as expected.
From there, it was natural to combine this new found interest in coding into my existing love of video games. Games programming is one of the most rewarding and exciting hobbies to have, and it starts from a solid understanding of what coding is and what it can do for you. This article series will discuss lessons that I've learned from coding that can apply to learning other hobbies or skills, or help you get into coding yourself.
1. Coding is a Language
What do we mean when we say coding is a language? Coding contains special words with set definitions, syntax (structure), grammar, and rules to convey meaning. Coding languages are like our ciphers for moving between human understanding to computer understanding. Since computers fundamentally run on a complex structure of 1s and 0s, humans need a way that makes sense to us to translate that information back and forth.
A programming language is a set of rules, allowances, and limitations that work with certain computer infrastructure. Programming languages may vary in the key words they use, the access they give you to lower-level settings and permissions, and the algorithms they use to process information. This may seem complicated, but generally, when you've learned one programming language, it's a thousand times easier to learn the next and the next. They all work in basically the same way, so it's mostly a matter of understanding fundamentals and language-specific nuances.
There are some pretty useful comparisons between written language and programming language. Each line written in a programming language could be considered it's own "sentence", or as it's called in coding, an "expression". It is declaring something new and specific that will support the code that follows it, like how an introduction helps guide you into exposition. All programming languages have special characters that act as shorthand or instructions called operators. Like ending a sentence with a period (.), some code requires ending expressions with a semicolon (;). And like using a colon (:), some expressions aren't finished in the same line, and have their ending operator on another line. Check out this example:
if (character.health > character.maxHealth) {
character.health = character.maxHealth; }
We started the expression with the if statement on the first line, but it didn't conclude until our last expression on the second line. This simple code is a way to cap a value at an upper limit if it were to go higher than it should, or "If the character's health is set higher than the character's max health value, set their current health to be exactly their max health". Learning how to convert between your language and logic into the program's language and logic is what coding is all about!
Let's say you start learning programming with HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language. HyperText describes how information is shared through the dynamic viewing and interaction of text information, and Markup refers to how we "mark" the properties of how that text is displayed and formatted. A very basic web page is built out of three sections: the Head, Body, and Footer. HTML uses arrows (</>) to mark the beginnings and ends of these sections, to keep them organized for the computer, like this:
<head></head>
<body></body>
<footer></footer>
HTML works by continuously nesting information into sections, creating layouts and unique elements, like navigation bars, tables, lists, articles, and more.
HTML teaches you that the computer has specific requests for how information should be organized so it can be read, and it introduces you to variables as properties. If you consider Head to be a variable that can be equaled to something, then all the information that goes inside the body of the Head is the variable definition. So <head> title="Hello World" </head> is the same as var head = {title: "Hello World"}. Or if you had a paragraph (<p>), var p = "This is my web page!" is the same as <p>This is my web page!</p>.
All languages have their own use cases and limitations. HTML is used for web pages, CSS is used for the design of web pages, and JavaScript is used to add interaction to web pages. Other languages like C# or Java allows the user to do even more, including making algorithms, programs, and games. Many of them require extensions, or third-party additional code that gives access to more tools and features, like C#'s Math namespace or Intellij for Java. When compared to human language, extensions are like adding specific cultural or historical information into the foundational context, creating more depth in expression.
So when learning a programming language, like learning a real one, don't get overwhelmed. The foundation and the patterns are the most important tasks to focus on. Learn how to do the simplest possible task, like adding two numbers, printing text, or calling a function that gives you a customized result, and then slowly take it up a notch each time. Also, learn how to take good notes through comments! Getting good at making comments for yourself and others will benefit you massively in the future. Keep Dreaming, young ones. 💙
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