An odd question....
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Since she has no intention of learning how to program, I'd keep it at a very conceptual level. To a large degree, the heart of all programming can be summed up as, "if this statement is true, perform this action, otherwise, perform this alternate action" coupled with, "while this statement is true, keep performing this action." All else is commentary.
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalStrategyConsulting.com
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
I learned with QBASIC when I was 9:
CLS FOR I = 1 TO 1000000 PRINT I; NEXT II agree that you shouldn't get into too much detail, especially if it is just idle curiosity. But being able to see an actual (albeit simplistic) program would help a great deal. Mike -
If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Show her the if statement, the for statment, a function, a UI in the designer, how to wire an event. that's it! :-D
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Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
COBOL.
"...a photo album is like Life, but flat and stuck to pages." - Shog9
Isn't that against the Geneva Convention? :laugh: Ah, wait, they're accountants, nevermind...
- S 50 cups of coffee and you know it's on!
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Doesn't matter really, show her all the statements (if/else, switch, for, while...) and some variables. Then use those variables with some operands (+, -, ...). That should clarify things :-).
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Boolean logic :) Explain what gates are, and how they build up to form the CPU. I think anyone would find that interesting :)
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
I'd just show her a simple and clean C++ program showing how to create a simple window, input a number, and add it to X if it is less than 100, or Y if it is greater than 100. Then multiply it by the current tax rate, just for her!
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction?
My neighbor asked that question a couple weeks ago when she was over. So I showed her some UML diagrams showing use case, sequences, then class diagrams, then code. She said, wow, that looks pretty easy! ;P Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith -
If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Seriously, they may say and believe truly at first that they want to know, but within 5 minutes of anything but shiny flashing lights they are going to be bored as hell. If you must persist in this madness at least learn to know the early signs of polite boredom and cut it short. ;) Instead perhaps give them a box of toothpicks and some glue and say build me a 3 story house with furniture and they will understand intuitively half the job right there.
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Isn't that against the Geneva Convention? :laugh: Ah, wait, they're accountants, nevermind...
- S 50 cups of coffee and you know it's on!
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If a non-programmer wants to see how a programmer does his job, how a program is written. How would you do this introduction? This person has no intention of ever programming, curiosity more than anything. Do you choose a language and an environment that will be easy for her to understand? I am torn on this one, because the easier languages are not my specialty. I am leaning in that direction simply so that she can have a better understanding about "how" one writes a program without showing her the deep dark dungeons of C/C++. I guess this is just one up from what is a good language to show to a child... what computer programming language do you show to an accountant?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
I'd go VBScript. 1. No need for a compiler. Just save as .vbs and double click 2. Very limited syntax and no (enforced) types so it's approachable 3. The syntax is verbose (If ... Then... Else...End If) so it's more "english-like" Don't bore her with theory, or flow charts or anything like that. Give her some instant gratification, code-wise.
cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
