Beginning with an example, let’s say I give you a shopping list to go get groceries.

Here, I've given you a set of instructions to follow. When programming, we are giving instructions to the computer. However, we must include specific syntax for our directions since computers do not speak our language.

We have to write in a language the computer can interpret and turn into actionable code. I am able to say something like “print” and in parentheses say ("Hi there") with quotation marks. This is a real Python code right here.

print("Hi there")

The system will compile this code into a set of ones and zeros for the actual computer’s processing. For a more complex sample, we can put in a link to an API inside. This is something on the Internet or some other API that stores data. Using this set of instructions, the system will convert and perform the print statement just as before.

By leveraging languages such as Python, we are able to communicate with a different server to bring back that data and render it to our users. There are two basic examples of programming in the introduction of each new section of this course. This real-world comparison will provide you with a framework to understand the concepts of whether you are new to development or not.

Programming can seem extremely intimidating if you are inexperienced. However, the reality behind all this complexity is that we are simply formatting instructions for computers to be able to execute them.