Basics of Programming
Help! Trom-Dlov is under attack and you need to help Elektra by writing a programme to announce the attack to everyone so that they can escape and hide from evil Nyxa.
Oh no! you have not learnt how to write C# code or the basics of programming yet? Not to worry, you about to gain the skills to save Trom-Dlov from Nyxa.
In order to do this you will be learning
- What is a programme?
- How to use variables, constants and data types to help store information you will need to save Trom-Dlov.
- Use operators to update, compare and calculate scores in your game.
What is a programme?
The basics
We will begin with learning what a programme is. You will also learn about the different levels of programming and some basic coding skills that will benefit you in helping Elektra to defeat Nyxa.
So....what is a programme?
A computer programme allows you to talk to the computer. When ‘talking’ to a computer you need to use precise instructions to ask the computer to do a task
There are different ways of talking to a computer and different levels of programming languages. There are:
- low-programming languages.
- high-level programming languages.
Click on the tabs below to learn about the different levels of programming.
Low-level programming languages are machine friendly languages.
This means that even though it is difficult for humans to understand, the computer understands it well. It is the language the computer uses to complete tasks. An example of a low-level language would be the binary number system. This binary code only uses two symbols:
- 0
- 1
This language is complicated for users to understand, but the computer understands it easily!
For example, if I wanted to say "I love coding!" in binary, would write it like this:
01001001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100001
This is simple for a computer to understand.
High-level languages are programmer friendly languages. This means that is easier for the programmer to understand the language. These languages are used widely for programming, they can be used to write precise instructions in a human-readable form. Some examples of this language would be:
- C#
- Java
- Visual Basic
This is easier to read than binary code. For example, if i wanted to say "I love coding!" in C#, I would write:
Console.WriteLine("I love coding!");
This is much simpler compared to binary code.
Let's look at an example
What does a programming language in C# look like?
It’s a little early for you to start coding yet. But let’s see a short code snippet in C# to get a sense of what you will be able to accomplish by the end of this Lesson.
Read the below code snippet.
It won’t make much sense to you yet, but notice things like the (1) text colour (2) curly {} or square [ ] brackets and the (3) new words like “Console.WriteLine“.
Click on the green number icons below to find out more each part of the C# code.
Who's heard of C#?
Click on the cards below to find out more about C#.
Let's watch this video for clarity
Time to test your knowledge.
Drag and drop the correct programming language to the corresponding correct level. You’ll see there is a box for “high-level” and “low-level” language.
How to Print?
What does it mean to print? Click on the cards below to find out.
Let's watch this video for clarity
Let’s recap – how to print
When we want to print something, we want it output onto our Console.
This is what a Console in C# looks like:
To print onto our Console, we use the keywords “Console.WriteLine”.
We then surround what we want to print in ( normal brackets ) and add a (;) semi colon at the end.
Look at the following example:
Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");This will output ‘Hello World!’ onto our Console.
Time to test your knowledge.
Help! Trom-Dlov is under attack from evil Nyxa and her beasts! You need to write up an online announcement to everyone in Trom-Dlov to run and hide. This is the only way to save them.
Fill in the missing lines of code below to announce your message across the land.
Click on the icon below for a hint.
Think of the correct format of the code with all its necessary punctuation.
Your turn to try
Elektra wants you to create a online warning that will be sent to all the animals and people in Trom-Dlov that Nyxa has not reached yet.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Type up your announcement and add it to the Console.WriteLine (“……..”); command in the below C# compiler. Use your imagination.
- Click run.
- Take a screenshot of your code and save it as a JPEG. (Google how to take screenshot)
- Then upload the JPEG to the assignment upload section at the end of this topic.
Good work – you wrote your first code to help Elektra in her battle.
But now we need to get into the real basics of programme – understanding data types, variables, constants and operators. All coming up next.
#WOW – What Outstanding Work – Awards: join us to learn from our students. 
Calling on all high schoolers interested in tech as a career to join us on 16 September at 5:30pm. If you missed it, we’ll host another one on 18 November. 
We will be talking to Jason Suttie from Devson. Jason has been in the tech world since he was six years old. He headed IT innovation unit at RMB and has since left to start up his own software consulting company – solving problems and building solutions for clients around the world. 
