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 Computers DO NOT think for themselves. For them to do anything they need to be told what to do.  Simply put computer programming is when you tell a computer what you want it to do.  To do this you do one of three things:  You write a program to tell the computer what to do  You buy a program that someone else wrote that tells the computer what to do  You pay someone to write a program for you.  It’s really as simple as that.

 Your computer is has no brain.  I don’t mean that in an insulting way it’s just the truth. Your computer can do NOTHING without someone telling it EXACTLY what to do.  If you assume that your computer has intelligence it will disappoint you every time. You will be providing it with it’s intelligence and that is why you are programming it.

 At it’s heart computer programming is nothing more than problem solving.  To be successful as a programmer it is important to take big problems and learn to break them down into a series of smaller problems.

 When writing a computer program we have already discussed that it is about breaking big problems down into smaller more manageable chunks.  In order to do that you need to ALWAYS have an understand of WHAT YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH.  As you write code it is important to continuously ask yourself ‘What am I trying to accomplish?’  ALWAYS READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS!!!

 Once you know what you want the computer to accomplish you then focus your attention on the next question.  How can I program the computer to accomplish this task?  Let’s get a little practice with this:  Get out one sheet of paper and please give me instructions to get from here to Millenia Mall.

 Did anyone have anything that looks like this?  go to my car  Drive from here to I4  Drive from the Princeton exit on I4 to the Conroy exit  Proceed along Conroy Road until you reach the mall

 Can you see any potential problems with those instructions?  go to my car  What are the steps involved for me to go to my car?  Remember the computer can only do what you tell it to do and in many cases it CANNOT perform even simple tasks unless they are broken down into smaller steps.

 Make sure you have your car keys  If you don't have them then look around until you find them. Once you find them put them in your pocket  Make sure you have your wallet  If you don't have your wallet look around until you find it. Once you find it put it in your pocket.  Walk towards the door  Open the door  Walk out the door  Close the door  If you are the last person to leave the house then lock the door  Walk towards your car  Use your key to open the car  Get into the car

 The surprising thing about this activity is that many of the previous instructions could be broken down into even more specific actions.  This is when you need to be both patient and determined.

 Most of you are familiar with things called application programs (software).  Applications programs are designed to help the user perform specific tasks.  Examples of application programs are:  Microsoft Word  Google Chrome  iTunes  The camera app on your phone

 The basic process that any application program follows is this:  Get input  Process that input  Provide output  Provide a way to Store ( save ) your work

 Create a table (a table is simply data that is stored in rows and columns) that looks like this: Program Name InputProcessingOutput Microsoft Word Google Chrome iTunes Camera app

 When you communicate with people you use a language that you both understand.  The trick is that the computer does not speak English.  To communicate with a computer you need to speak it’s language.

 The language that you use when communicating with a computer is called a ‘programming language’.  There are many programming languages out there and they all have a different style in which they talk to the computer.  The computer programming language that we will be using in this class is called ‘Scratch’.