Computer Programming

Code as Medium

Written text can be used to create artifacts such as poems, newspaper articles, and philosophical treatises, while video can be used to create artifacts such as music videos, television advertisements, and documentary films. As with text or video, code can be used to create a wide range of artifacts, from games to websites to intelligent agents. Programming can serve a variety of aims, from problem solving to personal expression. For example, social networking organizations such as Facebook write code to analyze social data and suggest potential connections between members, while digital animation studios such as Pixar write code to generate many elements of the worlds that they create.

Programming involves specifying instructions in a computer-interpretable language. Hundreds of programming languages have been created, reflecting diverse domains (e.g., industry, education, arts), environments (e.g., desktop, mobile, Web), and priorities (e.g., simplicity, expressiveness, performance). For example, applications developed for Apple mobile devices are often written in a language called Swift, the popular game Minecraft is written in a language called Java, and computer operating systems are usually written in a language called C. These languages were all designed for professional programmers and are not necessarily the easiest entry points for learning how to program.

Languages and tools for novices have become increasingly available to young people and adults interested in learning how to program. Many of these resources make programming more accessible without compromising the essence of the programming experience. For example, a significant portion of programming effort often involves fixing errors in program instructions—that is, dealing with the “bugs” that emerge when instructions do not produce the expected outcome. Graphical programming languages remove the potential for novices to introduce typographic bugs common with text-based programming languages, while still requiring problem-solving and abstraction capacities for program design.

Programming in Practice

In this section, four tools designed for novice programmers—(1) Scratch, (2) Alice, (3) Processing, and (4) App Inventor—are described in more detail.