computer programming for dummies

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2 Beginning Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Who Should Buy This Book

Everyone should buy this book right now because you know the importance of stimulating the economy by spending as much money as possible so the current President can stay in office another four years. But you should espe- cially buy this book if you want to know any of the following:

✔ How to write a computer program

✔ The best programming languages to use and why

✔ Shortcuts for programming a computer as simply and quickly as possible

✔ The evolution of computer programming languages

✔ How to program a Macintosh, Palm handheld, Linux, Windows

98/Me/NT/2000/XP, or PocketPC computer

✔ Whether to write your next computer program by using Visual BASIC,

C++, Perl, SmallTalk, C#, or some other programming language

To help you start right away, this book shows you how to use a program- ming language by the name of Liberty BASIC, which is a shareware BASIC compiler that you can download from the Liberty BASIC Web site at www. libertybasic.com (or copy from the CD that comes with this book). By using this book and Liberty BASIC, you can start programming right away, and later, if you want, graduate to the other programming books in the popu- lar For Dummies series.

How This Book Is Organized

This book follows the time-honored tradition of the printing industry by orga- nizing consecutively numbered pages one after the other to form a book. To help you find what you need quickly, this book consists of seven parts, where each part covers a certain topic about programming a computer, as the fol- lowing sections describe. Whenever you need help, just flip through the book, find the part that covers the topic you're looking for, and then keep the book at your side as you get back to work.

Part I: Programming a Computer

If computer programming seems a mysterious arcane science, relax. This part of the book demystifies all the common myths about computer programming,

shows you exactly how computer programs work, and explains why program- ming isn't as difficult as many people think.

To help you better understand programming, this part also shows you how programming has evolved, why so many different programming languages exist, and how programming follows easy-to-remember principles so you can start programming your own computer right away.

Part II: Learning Programming with Liberty BASIC

Trying to pick up programming from a book is like trying to learn judo by reading a pamphlet. In both cases, you may glean a theoretical understanding of the subject, but until you actually practice your skill, you don't know how much you really picked up.

To give you practical, hands-on experience in using an honest-to-goodness programming language, this part of the book explains how to install and use Liberty BASIC so that you can write real computer programs by using the BASIC programming language. Writing programs in Liberty BASIC helps you to better understand how programming really works as you work with pro- grams and see the results right on your own computer.

Part III: Advanced Programming with Liberty BASIC

Liberty BASIC provides plenty of advanced features for displaying graphics, making sound, and debugging your programs. This part of the book shows you how to take advantage of these special features and shows you the prin- ciples behind writing programs in other languages at the same time.