Computer programming

       Just starting out learning computer programming, it is already clear to me that becoming a successful computer programmer involves thinking in a completely different way than I’m used to.  The thing that interests me the most about programming is the fact that when two people are given the same programming problem, more times than not the end solution may be valid and usable for both people, however the actual code used to achieve the final end results will not exactly match line for line.  This tells me right away that computer programming is art in a way.  A programmer’s code represents his/her mind, and I could only assume this makes one’s code not just unique, but also very personal.

      I would imagine programmers learn through personal experience and extensive research when to use which tools for specific scenarios.  Determining which the best tool for the task is could be learned through experience and/or research as well, however, knowing exactly what you’re trying to accomplish with your code is a great indicator as to what tool or technique should be used.  For example, (Reingold, 1996) “Better sorting methods for algorithms can be designed using the idea of divide-and-conquer, in which a problem is decomposed into sub-problems that resemble the original problem on a reduced scale”.  Reingold uses the merge sort technique which allows sorting by splitting n values into 2 piles of n/2 value, sorting each pile separately, and then merging the two piles into a single sorted pile.  The above sort technique allows for solutions to more complex problems by way of easier calculations, which would in turn, not only be faster and less resource intensive, but more accurate as well.

           

           

References

Reingold, E. M. (1996). Basic techniques for design and analysis of algorithms. ACM Computing Surveys, 28(1), 19. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/195184191?accountid=41759