1.1: What is Coding?

Learning Objectives

• Explain what coding is in your own words

Introduction

Coding is writing computer code to form a computer program. Coding typically involves the following steps.

1. Translating input data into its computer representation

2. Defining what operations the computer performs on that data

3. Determining what output the computer gives and the representation of that output

All computer programs, small and large, are a collection of instructions to a computer to process inputs and give outputs.

History

The ENIAC being programmed. The first-ever programmers were a team of 8 women.

Instructions to a computer.

The first programmable computer was the ENIAC. It was built to compute ballistic trajectories for artillery firing tables in WWII. It did not have a screen, keyboard or mouse; It took in input in the form of punch-cards.

Computers have come a long way since then, and we now have keyboards, screens, touchpads and voice control, but computers fundamentally have not changed. They take in input, manipulate data, and return some output. Computers, unlike humans, do exactly as they are told. And unlike humans, computers cannot make sense of context, or infer what to do. Writing instructions to a computer requires you to be logical and precise.

Exercise Questions

1. What are 3 examples of software you use frequently that you do not access through your phone, tablet, or laptop?

   1. Examples: An ATM, your microwave, the lift.

2. How do you give input to this software, how does it give you output?

3. Define what that input is, what the output is, and what each software is responsible for.