In many schools today computer programming is offered in many different courses. The subjects for these courses include C, C++, and Java. Computer programming is slowly seeping into various curriculums such as physics, mathematics, business and engineering. Computer programs are mainly used to process data. By now, it is obvious to most people that computers can perform calculations many times faster than a person to do it on their own with or without calculator. When computers first evolved, their programming was hardwired. Later on programming languages were developed in order to reconfigure the computer for different tasks. The first programming language that appeared on the scene was assembly language. Later on, languages such as C and C++ were developed in order to make software development proceed faster. Programming languages implement different levels of abstraction in order to save resources such as time and memory. For people studying programming, however, it can be more challenging than math.

Programming languages have different ways of representing data called data types. The most basic of these is the character. Another is the integer which represents whole numbers. Yet another is the floating point number which represents very small or very large numbers in a format similar to scientific notation. Another data type consists of the string which consists of one or more characters. The data is stored according to its data type in a data structure. The most basic data structure is the variable which may or may not be declared depending on the language. Data can also be combined perform more complex data structures such as the array, the structure and in some languages the class or object.

Programming languages also includes control structures. These control the flow of processing in the code. Some examples of these would be the for loop, the while loop, if-else statements and switches. Iterations are performed by the for loop and also by the while loop. These structures cause a statement to be repeated over and over again until a certain condition

evaluates to true or false. If-else statements and switches are conditional structures that test for true or false and then act according to the result.

The next important concept is the function. A function gives a name to a block of code. As a result, the code contained within the function can be reused just by calling the name of that function. A function can have any number of inputs but usually only have one output. Functions make code reusable and make it possible to write short programs that would otherwise

be much longer. They work differently from other regular code in that they use a data structure called a stack to store the state of the program when the function is called. When the function has completed its task, program control returns to where the function was started and the following code is then executed.

Programming languages can consists of keywords as well as functions. These keywords are usually reserved just for the language and cannot be used as variables. In C, C++ and Java, some of these words are for, while, if, etc.

As society becomes more and more dependent on computers it also becomes dependent on the programs that run them. As a result, the ability to write computer programs becomes more important as time progresses. Computer programming is now penetrating many fields of knowledge that did not rely on knowing how to program. But as time goes by it becomes more

integrated into an increasing number of occupations and fields of knowledge.

Learning a programming language, especially for the first time, is not easy for most people. More time has to be put into it than other subjects. If it becomes overwhelming, a computer programming tutor can set thing straight. With most people learning C, C++ or Java, tutoring in these languages can lead to a better understanding. The tutor can help with code

writing, compiling or debugging. The tutoring option can make a big difference.