Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2024 August 27
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August 27
[edit]Javascript for kids
[edit]I'm pondering and thinking about buying a Javascript or coding for kids book to teach myself coding (Javascript would be particularly useful), after I learn TI Basic 83/84 Plus. However the books I see on Javascript for kids, namely JavaScript for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming or JavaScript For Kids For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) are both approaching 10 years old. How screwed would I be trying to learn Javascript from 10 year old books? What really beginner books do people recommend for Javascript? Thanks. Therapyisgood (talk) 01:36, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- I think you'll be fine. Any enhancements that came out in the last ten years are not likely to impact a beginner. The basic core is still the same. 41.23.55.195 (talk) 05:01, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- Finding a new book will be difficult because the popular beginner language changes over time. When I was a child, it was basic. That was eventually overtaken by Pascal and I thought all the kids learning Pascal were weird. It keeps changing. Right now, it is Python. If you look for Python Programming for Kids, you will find hundreds of books published this year alone. My opinion is that the language doesn't matter. The concepts matter. Learn what a variable is. Learn what control structures are. Learn what functions are. When you view programming as pushing values in and out of memory with functions, it doesn't matter what language you use. They all do the same thing. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 12:06, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- What exactly are control structures, and, functions...? Are those terms used in web-programming languages? I'm familiar with terms like variables, and while loops/for loops. Classes and objects. I feel like when you said function, Java and C++ have the same idea but as another word. 66.99.15.162 (talk) 18:00, 29 August 2024 (UTC).
- According to programming books we have: Control structures manage the program counter, affecting the flow of the program. If-else, while, for, etc... Anything that controls the program counter to do something other than flow from one line to the next is a control structure. Functions are very similar to a control structure. They are named locations in memory where you store code so you can use that name to execute the code, along with parameters and return values. It is not "web programming." It is "programming." If you are using a langage that doesn't have control structures, you are stuck writing a program that always goes from line 1 to line 2 to line 3, etc... If you don't have functions, you cannot repeat an algorithm multiple times with different parameters. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 10:49, 30 August 2024 (UTC)
- By program, you mean compiler? Because compilers read from top to bottom, left to right. What do we call control structures in non-web programming like Java or C++? And what you said for functions seems to be my understanding of variable. 66.99.15.162 (talk) 20:58, 4 September 2024 (UTC).
- It is talking about programs in general. A program is executed by obeying an instruction somewhere in the program. The default would be to move on to the next statement in the program. What happens next can be changed by a control structure that causes a different command to be obeyed. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:50, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- I feel you should drop the concept of "web programming." That isn't a thing. Writing a program for a web page or a website is not a unique form of programming called "web programming." It is just programming. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 12:18, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
- By program, you mean compiler? Because compilers read from top to bottom, left to right. What do we call control structures in non-web programming like Java or C++? And what you said for functions seems to be my understanding of variable. 66.99.15.162 (talk) 20:58, 4 September 2024 (UTC).
- According to programming books we have: Control structures manage the program counter, affecting the flow of the program. If-else, while, for, etc... Anything that controls the program counter to do something other than flow from one line to the next is a control structure. Functions are very similar to a control structure. They are named locations in memory where you store code so you can use that name to execute the code, along with parameters and return values. It is not "web programming." It is "programming." If you are using a langage that doesn't have control structures, you are stuck writing a program that always goes from line 1 to line 2 to line 3, etc... If you don't have functions, you cannot repeat an algorithm multiple times with different parameters. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 10:49, 30 August 2024 (UTC)
- What exactly are control structures, and, functions...? Are those terms used in web-programming languages? I'm familiar with terms like variables, and while loops/for loops. Classes and objects. I feel like when you said function, Java and C++ have the same idea but as another word. 66.99.15.162 (talk) 18:00, 29 August 2024 (UTC).