new to programming here. i am reading SICP right now and have seen a couple of MIT videos on python but i was just curious if anyone could give me an example of how a program is written. as in the actual process beginning to end. it kinda boggles me that its all math and simple equation but i would love to understand it. thank you.
*gulp* so you are saying that its so complex and i could never write an app or design a video game engine by myself?
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Anonymous2010-05-29 17:14
First, you decide what you want the program to do.
Second, you simplify the program's function that you decided upon into elementary functions that can add up to produce the ultimate result.
Third, you decide what language you will be using. This is occasionally an unnecessary decision.
Fourth, you deduce what components of the language will be useful for any given function.
Fifth, you arrange and manipulate those components such that they produce the output you desire. If it does not or proves unsatisfactory, return to four. You add a satisfactory result to the alphabet of your project and start working on the next elementary function.
Sixth, you group elementary functions in a way that every smaller success produces the success that you imagined in the first step.
Seventh, keep reading SICP.
You know that little tank game you programmed? If you add in another element, say enemies, and you've made asteroids. Add in scrolling and you have a schmup. You can program almost anything like this. Hacking on elements in succession to one another is how almost everyone learned how to program.
Sussman did not learn this way, Sussman stuck his dick into a computer and made it his bitch(this process is also known as SICP).
>>1
Keep watching the 6.001 videos and work through the assignments. you can find the solutions by searching google. In lecture 8 or so you will learn how to analyze algorithms using Big Oh notation.