I found a disconnect between a fellow bit shifter the other day. This programmer and I go way back. Great person. He is struggling to relate to me on some programming topics though. We are in separate worlds…
Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
Wirth died recently. His book of the same name as the header here, is quite brilliant. He is the father of most modern languages and he kinda nailed it with this title er, equation. I have a hardcopy of the book that a cherish. One day I will give it the attention it deserves.
Data Structures
- variables
- structs/classes
- arrays
- stacks
- queues
- dictionaries
- graphs…
Algorithms
- Loops
- Depth First Search
- Breadth First Search
- Rob First Search
- …
Programs
- Input, (loop), output
- command line
- gui
- batch
To teach the above first without a very strong mathematical background maybe a mistake. There is a reason there is a pedagogy of tons of math before programming class. It maybe mistake, but I know why it is this way. Programming is math all the way down to the metal and glass (sand)
One Language to Rule Them All
metaphor with music and languages
Often when you see a musician, and you ask them what instrument they play, often they will respond with a list. But they will probably start with the instrument they learned on: Piano or Guitar.
As an aspiring string plucker you may ask, how can this person be such a hardcore bard and I can’t play mary had a little lamb in every key on neck of guitar. The skills transfer. There is Transfer Learning.
Often we learn to learn by learning other things.
Learn to crawl, before you walk, etc. Let us go on a journey…
I implore you to grasp that math is the language of the universe, and doing math you are centering yourself with it.
41 + 1 = 42 # always
CommandPattern.org 