Programming 1. 01 5 Basic Concepts of Programming. First off, Id like to say that Im writing these preliminary posts in a way that Ill assume you have very little knowledge in programming. I want this content to provide anyone walking in off the street the knowledge to be able to write their first program with the Java programming language with as little pain as possible. So, lets get started with our first topic The 5 basic concepts of any programming language. You might say, Why are we talking about any programming language I thought this was about Java. Simple Division Program In Java' title='Simple Division Program In Java' />Well, Ive found that its important to remember that a lot of programming languages are very similar, and knowing whats common between all programming languages will help you transition into any other programming language if you need to For example, with the Java programming knowledge I had obtained, it took me less than a month to learn how to program in a language called Objective C which is used for i. Phone apps. Thats powerful stuffJava is PassbyValue, Dammit Introduction. I finally decided to write up a little something about Javas parameter passing. Im really tired of hearing folks. The syntax of the Java programming language is the set of rules defining how a Java program is written and interpreted. The syntax is mostly derived from C and C. Fizz buzz is a group word game for children to teach them about division. Players take turns to count incrementally, replacing any number divisible by three with the. Excellent question In Java, the programming language wants to know what kind of information you are going to be storing in a variable. This is because Java is a. Before we start learning if youre someone who also enjoys learning by watching videos, then I have the perfect deal for you. You can get access to over 5. Facebook community of like minded programmers for free for 3. Arguments may be in any order. The javac tool reads class and interface definitions, written in the Java programming language, and compiles them into bytecode class. Java Operators. An operator is a symbol that operates on one or more arguments to produce a result. The Hello World program is so simple it doesnt use any operators. You can click here to learn more about the Java courses. So here are the 5 basic concepts of any programming language Variables. Control Structures. Data Structures. Syntax. Tools. I recognize that these words probably look foreign to you, but dont worry, Ill do my very best at taking the mystery out of them. Now, theres a lot to say about each of these 5 concepts, so for todays post Ill only be talked about item 1, variables What is a variable Variables are the backbone of any program, and thus the backbone of any programming language. I like to start off by defining what were about to learn, so, Wiki defines a variable as follows Okay, well, thats kind of cryptic. To me, a variable is simply a way to store some sort of information for later use, and we can retrieve this information by referring to a word that will describe this information. For example, lets say you come to my website www. I want to do, is ask you what your name is so that I can greet you in a nice way the next time you visit my website. I would put a little text box on the screen that asks you what your name is that text box would represent a variable Lets say I called that text box your. Name, that would be the symbolic name or word for your variable as described from our wiki definition above. So now, when you type your name into the text box, that information would be stored in a variable called your. Name. I would then be able to come back and say What value does the variable your. Name contain, and the program would tell me whatever it was your typed into that text box. This concept is extremely powerful in programming and is used constantly. It is what makes Facebook and Twitter work, its what makes paying your bills via your online bank work, its what allows you to place a bid on e. Bay. Variables make the programming world go round. Now, if we want to get more specific, when it comes to the Java programming language, variables have different types. Brace yourself here, as Im going to try to confuse you by explaining an important concept in three sentences. If I were to be storing your name in a variable, that type would be a String. Or, lets say I also wanted to store your age, that type would be stored as an Integer. Or lets say I wanted to store how much money you make in a year, that type would be stored as a Double. What the heck are String, Integer and Double Excellent question In Java, the programming language wants to know what kind of information you are going to be storing in a variable. This is because Java is a strongly typed language. I could teach you about what the difference is between a strongly typed language and a weakly typed language, but that will likely bore you right now, so lets just focus on what a type is in Java and why its important. Heimdall One-Click Unbrick'>Heimdall One-Click Unbrick. Typing in Java, allows the programming language to know with absolute certainty that the information being stored in a variable will be a certain way. So like I said, if youre storing your age, you would use the Integer type well thats because in Java, an Integer means you have a number that wont have any decimal places in it. It will be a whole number, like 5, or 2. All of those numbers would be considered an Integer in Java. So what would happen if you tried to store something that wasnt an Integer, into an Integer variable, say for instance the value 3. Well, quite simply, you would get an error in the program and you would have to fix it In Java, when you specify that a variable is of type Integer, you are simply not allowed to store anything except a whole number. Specifying what kind of data that you are dealing with allows the programming language to use that data in interesting ways. Again, what I say specifying what kind of data, Im just referring to the type of data. Lets dive into the power of assigning a type to your data. What can you do with data types Lets start with a simple example. Your desire is to add two numbers together, lets say the number 2. Java will behave differently depending on the type of the variable thats storing this data. Let me show you what I mean If you have defined your variables to be of type Integer, then adding 2. Integer 2. 5. Makes perfect sense right Of course, this is simple Math. But what happens if your variables are not Integers, but are Strings A String in Java is a different kind of data type and it behaves differently BECAUSE it is a different type of data. When we refer to a String in Java and in many other programming languages we are treating the data like its just a plain old sentence in the English language. A String just represents words or more specifically letters all placed in a certain order. Thats all the English language or any language is, a series of charactersletters placed in a certain order to give meaning to what youre writing down. So now I ask you, what does it mean to add two sentences together What does it mean to add two Strings togetherIll show you. If you were to have two variables, each defined as Strings and they stored the data 2. We would get the String 2. This might be confusing at first, but it makes more sense when we use less misleading data. Lets assume that in our two String variables, we arent storing numbers, were storing words. So in variable 1 we store the String Hello, and in variable 2 we store the String World. Now what happens in your mind if I tell you to add those two words together Hopefully your natural instinct is to say that the resulting String would be Hello WorldThats all thats happening with the Strings 2. Java behaves differently because of the type of the variables. To Java, the String 2. String twenty two, theyre both characters arranged in a specific way. Now I dont want to go into too much detail about types, as this is better suited to programming basic concept 3 Data Structures. So thats all I will touch on for now, but no worries, it will all make sense in time Want Free Access to my Best Java CoursesAlright, so if youre read this far down the article, then youre clearly interested in learning how to code. You can currently get access to my 2 best courses on Java for free for 3. When you sign up youll receive login information to start learning about Java. Text Based Rpg Games Single Player Offline more.