Introduction
Computer programming is a methodology that is used to develop computer programs. These computer programs are executable and, upon execution, must deliver the desired result. Computer programs are written to achieve the desired objective. The moment this objective is achieved, the computer program developed gets filled up with happiness and thought to do the same program better than the current version of the program. A computer programmer in command of his program plays with the program, and in this way, programming becomes fun.
Programming is done by conducting analysis, developing algorithms, checking algorithms for their accuracy. When the developed algorithm is accurately developed, a suitable programming language is selected to implement the developed algorithm.
The logic of the program is written in a programming language known as the program’s source code. Unfortunately, the computer does not understand the source code. This source code is converted into machine code. The machine code interacts with the computer hardware. If the programmer has to write the code in machine language, it becomes cumbersome for the programmer, and programming no longer becomes fun.
Programming is done to automate manual tasks. As soon as the manual task is automated, the program user enjoys working on the same manual task. The developer of that computer program thinks to automate that manual task further and, in turn, enjoys that task and has fun automating that task.
A computer programmer with expertise and proficiency in a programming language has fun solving a particular problem in that language. Any work which is under control gives a fun return.
Computer programming includes testing the developed program, debugging the developed program, maintaining the source code of the developed program, implementing the developed program, and managing the machine code of the developed program. When these tasks are combined, then it becomes an engineering process and is known as Software Engineering.
Earlier programs were written in machine language, which was a cumbersome process. Still, when the program’s output met the desired objective, it delivered pleasure and fun to the program developer. However, in machine language, programs are written in binary form using 0 and 1. Thus develop a proper sequence of 0 and 1 requires a great deal of expertise and often leads to programmer emotional and mental breakdown. With the assembly language development, the programmer started writing programming instructions in a text format that was much easier and easily understood, further adding fun to the programming. In addition, in assembly language memory, address can be referred to using a meaningful name, which is fun and pleasure.
With the advent of a high-level language, program development has become fun. Moreover, the developed program was platform-independent. That is, the program can be executed on a different machine. The platform-independent feature further added fun to programming as the developed program can be distributed.
Characteristics of programming languages
Following are the characteristics of programming languages that add fun to them – Reliability, Robustness, Usability, Portability, Maintainability, and Efficiency.
The program developed must be reliable and must deliver the same result again and again. This is possible if the algorithm of the developed program is correct. When the programmer becomes proficient in removing syntactical errors and logical errors, then programming becomes fun.
The developed program must be robust, that is the developed program must have the capability of dealing with the situation such as inappropriate input to the program, giving corrupt data as input, handling situation that arise due to insufficient amount of memory, handling errors that comes due to network congestion and network connection problem. When these errors are tackled in programming, then programming becomes fun.
The developed program must be usable. Furthermore, the user of the program must use the program with ease. Therefore, the ergonomics of the program must be such that it must add ease in using the program for its intended purpose. Developing user-friendly ergonomics is fun.
Portability is another that must be considered in developing a program. The developed program must be executable on the different hardware platforms and the different operating systems. The portability feature adds fun to programming as the programmer can work on the same program on different machines located at different geographical locations.
The developed program must be maintainable. In addition, the program must be developed so that it can be modified as required. Modifications are done to improve the program. Thus modification adds fun to programming. Modification is possible only when the programs are developed following good programming practices.
The developed program must use system resources efficiently. Managing computer memory, efficient use of the processor, managing computer hard disk and, efficient network bandwidth is also fun. The efficiency of the developed program also depends on the programming language chosen to develop the desired program. An efficient program adds fun in using it and developing it and modifying it.
Program readability adds fun to it.
The developed program must be readable. The more readable the program, the more easily it is understood by the programmer. The more readable the program, the more easily it can be comprehended. Thus, the flow of the program is easily understood. The new programmer is in quest of modifying the program can easily modify it.
Readability adds fun as the programmer spends a lot of time reading it and modifying it. On the other hand, an unreadable program distracts programmers and makes programming a tedious task.
To achieve fun in reading the program, the programmer must use indentation, use appropriate comments, use decomposition, and use appropriate naming for each of the objects used in the program.
The editor’s functionality in which the source code is developed is responsible for achieving fun in readability.
The visual programming language also adds readability to programming and adds fun to programming.
Programming is Fun
Programming can be engaging. Each instruction written by a programmer do something, and when it happens, it adds fun to programming. Likewise, the step-by-step development of a program and making it work is fun. But when the error occurs, it shatters the programmer. Thus programming involves human emotions.
The person interested in solving a problem is suitable for developing a program and feel the fun the programmer enjoys.
The fun in programming depends on the programmer. The excitement and fun in programming are different for the different programmers. Few programmers have fun in programming, and few programmers enjoy programming due to the amount of money received and have fun is spending it.
Few programmers enjoy programming and see it as developing a painting. However, a good program is balanced in input/output, memory utilization, network utilization, and hard disk maintenance. The same is the case with painting. A good painting is balanced in all its sense and respect. A good painting is developed in the jolly mood in the same way a good program is developed when the programmer enjoys it and has fun related to good programming characteristics.
The most attractive feature of programming that adds fun to it is that programming is not repetitive. Instead, the programmer keeps on learning new programming constructs and having fun.
