Programming refers to creating a program. Now the point is what actually is a program?? Well a program is basically a set of instructions that guide the system to perform a specific task. But to work with something you need to learn the basic concept behind it. So in order to perform programming you need to know how actually a system works i.e. Flow of Data through the system or parameters of processing etc.
Assuming that you know the basic working of the system we shall continue to the later topic of programming fundamentals. Now programming can be done on various systems it is not limited only to computers. You can program from a single IC to complex micro-systems such as embedded circuits, mobile devices and computer systems etc. Now the programming varies on the basis of the format, type and complexity.
Most Commonly Used programming types according to format are as follows:
- Procedural Programming
- Object Based Programming
- Object Oriented Programming
Classification on the basis of complexity
- Low Level or Machine Level Languages (e.g. Binary etc.)
- High Level Languages (e.g. C/C++, Python etc.)
Now talking about the programming on basis of the type then it falls on to following categories:
- System/Hardware Programming - Programming Embedded systems or ICs for a specific task such as controlling power supply or the motors or the flow of control of data throughout the circuit and the language commonly used is Machine Language. Because hardware understands only low machine level languages only. Commonly used languages is Binary and Assembly. Binary is in the form of 0 & 1s and Assembly is in the form of hex codes e.g. hxcef1067.
- Hardware Interface Programming - This section solely focuses on creating an interface for operation between user and the hardware. This type of programming is used for creating Operating Systems and hardware drivers. Drivers are basically softwares for running specific hardware such as audio adapters or GPUs etc. Commonly used languages here are Machine Level, Assembly Language and few high level such as C,C++, Fortran etc.
- Software Programming - This programming deals with creating softwares that run on other softwares such as tailor made software(Software made to fulfill a specific requirement) or packages such as Office suites, Video editors etc.
- Database Programming - This type of programming involves creating, editing and further operation with Databases such as Oracle, MySQL, NoSQL with a specific language called SQL(Structured Query Language).
- Network Programming - In this section it deals with the web/internet or networking. This type is also known as Socket Programming and it deals with how the data packets will travel across the network from and to the server etc. Commonly used Languages are Java, C++ and Python.
- Web Programming - Deals with development of websites and its related services. Commonly Used Languages are HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP etc.
- Choose your work area or the field of interest.
- Learn about the background process. Means, if you want to develop some system software or any other software that works on Operating system then you need to know how the data flow happens in the system or what operation takes place in which part/component of the system or how to access a certain hardware attached to the system etc.
- Learn about the Programming Language widely used in your field of interest.
- Read Good Books having the topics covered by famous authors.
- Practice and Practice more by writing different codes in the language you have learnt.
- Never copy codes…..try to create a duplicate copy of the same thing by yourself without looking at the original source codes.
- Keep updated yourself with the latest updates related to your field and language.
- Try creating different things on your own.
