Computer programming — and so can you!

Okay, I stole the title a bit from the brilliantly titled “I am America, and so can you” by Stephen Colbert, but it caught your attention it seems.

“Computer programming — and so can you” is a series in n parts for someone just getting into programming and is intended to be a fun, easy to read, yet serious introduction to the different topics that make up the art of computer programming.

I am planning it to eventually be in two major parts, one about the workings of the computer, the compiler, the virtual machine and so on, and one part about how to study programming and how to think like a programmer. If you are only interested in the second part, it is completely independent from the first (well except for the Philip-code introduction) and can be read independently.

I am going to publish the chapters one at a time, though not necessarily in the order they appear in the list. For example the first two chapters I have written are from the second part.

Part I — How does it all work?

The computer as a concept

Method calls and parameters

The call stack

Programs and how they are run

Operating systems at a cursory glance

Virtual machines and memory management

Part II — How to get under the skin of programming

Choosing your first programming language

How to solve a programming assignment

Algorithms or the algebra of programming (it is not as scary as it sounds)

Panic! How to get help

Web programming — why you really got into programming

Looking ahead — your next programming language

Separate, but useful chapters

Philip-code(TM), an introduction