Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Computer Blues: Programming a New Future

By Herbert Reich

If you've been giving some thought to pursuing a new career in computer programming, or are merely curious about what someone you know is going to do with their computer programming degree, you'll have to first learn a little more about the field. One of the first things you'll learn is that computer programming is often known as coding by people who are in the profession. You'll also find that the work of a computer programming involves not only writing code, but also testing, debugging and maintaining computer code.

When you are looking at the idea of computer programming, and when you are thinking about it as a career, you will find that one of the important things that you need to look at is the programming language that will be used . There are several different languages that might be used, and depending on what you are looking into, there are different languages that are ideal for difficult things. You will find that in some cases, the job of a computer programmer involves maintaining or otherwise tweaking code that already exists, or writing code to do something brand new.

If you are looking at the discipline of computer programming, it is always an interesting argument to not whether it falls into an engineering discipline, a craft discipline or an art discipline. In many cases, it can be assumed that good programmers, especially ones that create something new altogether, are doing all three. Good code is usually defined in terms of it being evolvable and efficient. As you can see, these things are quite subjective and different people will have different criteria for this standard. This subjectivity can add a great deal to the experience that is gained in the field.

The standards which computer programmers should pay close attention to are performance - how quickly does the program run and how much system resources are consumed? Reliability is usually the second concern; essentially, does the program perform as advertised consistently? Robustness is another concern - this is a measure of how well the code anticipates and handles the unexpected. Then there is usability, which measures the user-friendliness of the software and last of all, there is portability, which denotes the range of different machine and software architectures which can successfully run the program.

If you are in a place where you are looking to make sure that you can get the right kind of work for yourself, or if you are looking to see what computer programming might be able to offer you, make sure that you take a look at this discipline and figure out what your options are. There are definitely people who are perfect for this field and who don't even know it, and you will find that with just a little bit of careful thought and examination that you will be able to decide if it is for you. Check out the computer programming courses that are available at Ashworth College and see what you can learn both about the field and yourself! - 16039

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