Beginning Programming
Chapter One
What Is Programming?
If you've picked up a book on programming, you must have a pretty good idea what programming
is. After all, why would you want to learn something if you don't know what it is? However, many
students who are new to the wonderful world of programming, or even practitioners of the art
who have learned a little programming to do a particular job and built on their experience from
there, might benefit from a quick rundown of the history of programming, what programming is,
and where it's at right now.
The History of Programming
The history of programming spans more years than most people would imagine. Many people
think programming is an invention of the late twentieth century. In fact, the history of modern
programming and programming languages dates back nearly 60 years to the mid-1940s.
However, before we pick up the story in the 1940s, we need to go still farther back in time, all the
way back to 1822 and Charles Babbage. While he was studying at Cambridge University in Britain,
Babbage came upon the realization that many of the calculating devices of the time, such as astronomical
tables, tidal charts, and navigational charts, all c ... read full excerpt from Beginning Programming ebook
