What is Programming?

Imagine you're playing with your favourite set of building blocks. You can build lots of different things with them, right? Now, let's think of these blocks as instructions or steps to do something.

Programming is kind of like playing with these building blocks, but instead of physical blocks, we use blocks of instructions or commands that a computer understands.


Let's take an example. Say, you want your toy robot to move from your bedroom to the living room, picking up your teddy bear on the way. The robot doesn't know how to do this on its own, so you need to give it step-by-step instructions.


  1. Go straight until you reach the door.

  2. Turn right.

  3. Keep going until you see the teddy bear.

  4. Bend down and pick up the teddy bear.

  5. Continue straight into the living room.


Now, imagine if you wrote these instructions in a special language that the robot understands. This is what programming is. It's giving the computer or a robot specific instructions to do a certain task.


Just like you need different blocks to build different things, in programming, you can use different 'blocks' or commands to make the computer do different things like playing a game, showing a movie, or helping with your homework. The really cool thing is, just like your building blocks, you can use these programming blocks over and over again to build lots of fun and useful things.


But, remember, computers are very good at following instructions, but they don't understand things like humans do. So, we need to be very clear and precise with our instructions. If we tell our robot to 'go straight until you reach the door' but the door is closed, our robot might bump into it! So, we have to consider all possibilities when we give our commands.


Programming is just like teaching your toy robot or computer what to do, with a special set of instructions. And the best part? You can make them do so many fun and helpful things! It is the process of writing instructions for computers to execute in order to solve problems or perform a set of tasks.


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