Program Flow Control Statements
Like in JavaScript, Python has as similar set of flow control statements, but with slightly different syntax.
If / Else Statement
This is the Python equivalent of the if/else example we saw in the JavaScript section:
x = 10if : printelse: print
We defined a variable called x and set its value to 10, followed by our if statement. Since the condition in the parentheses evaluates to True, the code indented after the if statement will be executed, and we will see the string ‘X is GREATER than 5!’ printed to the screen.
In Python, we use the print function for printing information to the screen.
Also note the else statement above, which will print an alternative string to the screen if x if the condition is False.
There are two main differences between the Python code above and the JavaScript code we saw previously. Python uses a colon instead of curly braces to indicate the beginning of the if statement block.
In addition, the indentation of the print function actually matters in Python. In JavaScript, the indentation or white space between statements doesnt matter since JavaScript identifies code blocks using curly braces and identifies the end of a statement using a semi-colon. But in this Python example, there are no semi-colons and no curly braces!
That is because Python actually uses the white space and newline characters to identify the end of statements and code blocks.
While Loops
x = 1while : print x = x + 1print
How To Learn Programming From Scratch
In this article
The way we work and live is changing, with 90% of business operations supported by software. The digital-first transformation and Fourth Industrial Revolution have led to a drastically increased demand for the software developers who are fueling this technology.
With the shortage of software developers expected to reach 1.2 million by 2026, qualified developers are in demand, resulting in high salaries and excellent benefits. In this article, well discuss how you can learn programming from scratch and break into this lucrative field.
Is Software Engineering A Good Career
Software engineering is an excellent career. The job prospects for software engineers are expected to grow 22% over the next 10 years, which is much faster than average. Additionally, software developer is ranked in the top five best jobs overall by U.S. News & World Report. Software developers are paid well, enjoy a lot of flexibility, and have many opportunities for upward career growth.
Since youre hereConsidering a career in software engineering? Well help you build a CV that rivals experienced software engineers in 9 months flat with our Software Engineering Bootcamp. If youre still mulling, try our free software engineering learning path and check out our salary guide to see what you could be making.
About Sakshi Gupta
Sakshi is a Senior Associate Editor at Springboard. She is a technology enthusiast who loves to read and write about emerging tech. She is a content marketer and has experience working in the Indian and US markets.
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Where Can We Apply The Skills Of Programming
- Ability to Communicate: Communication is an extremely essential quality wherein, you can explain your plan, discuss your doubts, improve your thoughts and exchange information from your superior and your team member. A good communicator can understand and explain the tasks performed in daily reporting, find out how can you improve your thoughts and clear your doubts. During the agile standup meeting & sprint meets, you can communicate the plan of action and can lead the team.
- Problem-solving: Accepting challenges and accomplishing difficult tasks will build problem-solving skills and this is a prerequisite for a good developer. During development, you may encounter various issues of understanding the business logic and implementing them into your code, integration of the code with application, compatibility issues and many more challenges. Your problem-solving skills will help you to sail through the most critical situations.
- Collaboration/Teamwork: Collaboration skills enable you to work with the team members to accomplish some tasks effectively and thereby improve productivity.
Working in a team at times can result in conflict, due to attitude issues. Hence, by understanding the goal to get better products or improve productivity, anyone can play the role of an excellent team player role.
Further Your Knowledge With Java
Now that weve worked with a couple of higher-level programming languages, lets take it one step lower with Java.
Unlike JavaScript and Python which execute source code in real time using an interpreter, Java is a compiled language. This means a compiler is used to convert Java source code into a form the computer can understand.
Most compilers generate one or more executable files made up of machine code that are ready to run on the specific operating system and hardware platform they were compiled for.
But Java is somewhat special in that it compiles the Java source code into an intermediate form called . This is different than the machine code that most other compiled languages produce. Java bytecode is intended to be executed by something called the Java Virtual Machine .
You can think of the JVM as a program that you install on your computer, which allows you to run Java programs by executing Java bytecode. When people talk about “whether or not Java is installed on a computer,” they are usually asking whether or not the JVM is installed on the computer.
The JVM serves a similar function to the interpreters we discussed in previous chapters. But instead of taking source code as an input, it takes compiled bytecode.
The benefit of this setup is that it allows bytecode compiled on particular operating systems and platforms to be executed by a JVM on any other platform.
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Apply For An Internship
Once youve learned the basics of programming and put together a portfolio, start applying for internships. With the shortage of tech talent, youd think that landing a programming job would be relatively easy. Unfortunately, thats not usually how it works. In fact, it can be hard to get your first position. An impressive portfolio is a must, especially if youre a self-taught programmer.
Spend time on sites like LeetCode to get ready for a technical interview. In addition to searching job boards for internships, take advantage of networking opportunities. Keep your professional profile updated with your career goals and progress. Attending tech meetups and hackathons can also help you discover internship opportunities.
Can You Learn Programming On Your Own
Yes. It is completely possible to learn to program on your own. There are many self-paced courses available on sites like Coursera and Udemy. You can also learn from YouTube tutorials, blogs, and books. Whatever your preferred learning style, you can find a course that suits it. Springboard combines self-paced classes with career guidance. They even have a job guarantee for students who meet eligibility requirements.
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Read About Web Frameworks And Mvc
Oftentimes, well find ourselves writing code for very common types of applications. Web applications are applications that rely on the Internet in order to function. Webapps are some of the most commonly created types of software applications.
A web app is essentially a more functional and robust version of a website. Most web apps implement some backend code that resides on a web server and performs logic behind the scenes to support the applications functionality.
Common programming languages to use for a web apps backend code include Python, Java, and JavaScript, among others.
Some functionalities common to most web apps include:
- Providing a convenient way to dynamically alter content on web pages
- Performing secure user authentication via a login page
- Providing robust application security features
- Reading and writing data to a database
A web framework is a set of code libraries that contain the common functionalities that all web apps use out of the box. Web frameworks provide a system for developers to build their applications without having to worry about writing the code for many of the behind the scenes tasks common to all web apps.
We only need to utilize the parts of the framework that meet the needs of our web app.
For example, if we dont need to connect to a database in a particular web app, we can just ignore the database features and use the other features that we do need.
Bonus: Top Tips For Becoming A Programmer
Congratulations, by now you should understand exactly how to become a computer programmer. I have put together the following bonus tips for people who want to learn programming, but are having trouble getting started.
Whether you are lacking motivation, are having trouble learning the syntax, or simply dont know where to start, the following should help you to understand how to become a programmer:
- You can never know too much, but you need to start simple. Focus on one language, to begin with, and dont move to the next until you have a good grip of the first. Otherwise, you might get confused.
- Start taking freelance jobs as soon as you can. Look at Upwork and other freelance platforms, and find jobs that are suited to your skill level. Remember, even having a little bit of programming knowledge means that you have more than most people.
- Stop worrying about how to be a programmer, and just start learning. Sure, it will be difficult to start with, but things will start to make more sense as you learn. The trick is not to bite off too much to start with.
- Ask for help. The coding community is super friendly and most people are willing to help fellow programmers learn. Join an online discussion board or chat room, and ask for help when you need it.
- In the same way, dont be afraid to ask other people to improve your code – in fact, a lot of people will jump at the chance, because it will help them learn too!
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Setting Up And Running Code
Taking the first steps after learning the theory
Finally, you are ready to start coding and running some codes!
To set up, you need to download the programming language itself, the links are provided at the end of this article. You will also need to download an IDE which is software to run the code. You can think of the IDE as a nice pretty interface to run code, if not you will need to use the command-line interface which is not beginner-friendly. Some IDEs can run multiple programming languages so you only have to download one IDE.
Personally, I do not like to mix my IDE with multiple programming languages. This is my setup,
- Python: PyCharm , Sublime Text
- Java: IntelliJ IDEA
- Go: Visual Studio Code, Terminal
To run code, codes can be run on the IDE or through a command-line interface.
To run Python codes, you can hit the Ctrl-Enter or Ctrl-B button, or copy and paste it to Python Console depending on your IDE.
To run Java codes, you need to build the codes first to compile .java files into .class files before running them. This extra step is due to Java being both compiled and interpreted language as explained in earlier section.
To run Go codes, you can use the command-line interface and run go run file-name.go to compile and execute the code.
Alternatively, if you just want to play around without any installation, you can use an online IDE.
To master a programming language, it is best to practice it daily by doing a simple task or a project.
Learn To Ask For Help
Knowing when to ask for help is a skill youll need throughout the course of your life, not just in your coding career. The fact of the matter is, you arent going to know everything, especially when youre just starting out. The fastest and easiest way to gain the skills you need to have for a successful coding career is to ask those who have the answers. After you try to figure out the answer to your question on your own, be sure to ask someone else. Whether you do it in person or online, speaking to your mentor or teacher and listening to what they have to say is critical when you are learning to become a computer programmer.
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Jobs In Computer Programming
A skilled and experienced computer programmer can essentially write their own ticket. There are thousands of open jobs in programming and related fields. For example, a search for available positions for Java programmers on Indeed.com at the time of this article had over ten thousand results. And thatâs just in the United States. People wishing to enter the world of computer programming can choose to specialize in any number of popular programming languages and find many entry-level opportunities. Get started as a junior programmer in the language of your choice and gain the experience and skills to move up the ladder to software engineer or even Chief Technology Officer.
Variables And Assignment In Java
One major difference between Java and the languages we have seen so far is that Java is a statically typed language.
This means that the data types of our variables must be known and established at the time the program is compiled.
Each time we create a variable in Java code, we need to explicitly specify the data type of that variable, such as an integer, string, and so on. This is called variable .
Once we declare a variables data type, it can only hold that type of data throughout the execution of the program.
This is very different from JavaScript and Python, where variable data types are established during program execution, also known as run time. Languages like JavaScript and Python are therefore referred to as dynamically typed languages we dont explicitly state variable data types in our source code and can easily reassign a variable to any type on the fly.
In Java, we create variables using this syntax:
Datatype name = value
Here the Datatype is the type of data that the variable will store, such as Integer, String, and so on. Next, the name represents the name of the variable we are defining so we can use it in our code. The value is the actual value we are assigning to the variable. Note that like JavaScript, all Java statements end in a semicolon.
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Search Is Your Friend
Theres no shame in using Google to find the solutions to your coding problems. In fact, professional developers do it all the time.
If youre struggling, someones probably been in the same situation and dropped a question to a forum. Youd be surprised at how many solutions youll find with super-specific queries.
Plus, its quite satisfying to close 20 tabs of Stack Exchange after finally fixing a stubborn bug.
The 7 Best Programming Languages To Learn In 2022
David is a software engineer with over 13 years in the industry and a passion for web technologies. His work experience ranges from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
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If you are a coding bootcamp graduate, entry level developer or are interested in pursuing a career in tech, watch this webinar to learn job search and resume tips from our panel of industry experts.
Programming languages exist to accomplish many different business purposes, so its important to make an informed decision about the best programming language to learn. Choosing a language thats in demand may make your job search easier and your career as a software developer more fulfilling. In this article, we provide insight into seven high-demand programming languages and offer advice for learning a new coding language.
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Store Data Using Databases And Sql
A database is a program specifically designed to efficiently store, update, retrieve, and delete large amounts of data. In a nutshell, we can think of a database as a container for a set of tables.
You have probably worked with tables in Microsoft Excel. A table is just a set of columns and rows containing data. We can set up tables in a database to store the information that our programs need to work properly.
Whether we are writing programs in JavaScript, Python, Java, or some other language, we can tell our programs to interact with databases as needed.
We can retrieve data from the database to display to our users on a web page. We can accept a web sign-up form from a user and store that users information in a database for later use.
Our programs can interact with databases in real-time as events transpire in our application. To do this, most databases speak a language called SQL, short for Structured Query Language.
SQL is a programming language specifically created for databases. It allows us to tell databases what to do.
A chunk of SQL code is called a query. We can write SQL queries to fetch the data we need at a particular time or to insert new data into a specific table. Roughly speaking there are two main types of SQL queries: read-SQL and write-SQL.
A read-SQL query is one that simply fetches data from the database for us to see or use. It doesnt change the data in the database at all.
SELECT FIRST_NAME FROM PERSON
SELECT *FROM PERSONORDER BY LAST_NAME
What Are The Most Popular Programming Languages In 2022
According to the 2021 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, the most popular programming technologies in 2022 are:
Each of these languages has different benefits that make them well-suited for different purposes. To choose the right language for your needs, you should consider what you want to use the language for.
If youre interested in web development, then JavaScript or PHP might be a good choice. Python might be a good choice if youre interested in data science or machine learning. If youre interested in game development, then C++ might be the one for you. And if youre looking for a versatile language that can be used for a variety of applications, then C# is worth a look.
No matter what your goals are, theres a language out there thats perfect for you. So dont be afraid to experiment and find the one that fits your needs.
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