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A Response to ‘You Don’t Know That Programming Language’

Tony over at the Computer Science Canada blog wrote an article on the 8th of June about what it means to master a programming language. The article raised the question of deciding what it means to ‘know a language’. The article also suggested that there are things that are way more important than memorizing java’s String methods – like algorithms and and design methodology. I am inclined to agree with Tony, that yes, these things are more important than syntax.

The Trouble

Recently, my travels in the area of programming have been limited to an AP Computer Science class that I took in my senior year of High School. Personally, I did well in the class – I finished with an A. However, some of the kids in the class didn’t do as well as the other Seniors and I think that this was because they were hung up on Java’s syntax rather than what the program actually needed to accomplish at an algorithmic level.

Our teacher was a guy who was on the job teaching this AP stuff for over 20 years. He knew his stuff. He gave us tough assignments that made us work hard, and I enjoyed it. The class was much more challenging than any other classes that I had taken in school. Our teacher required that we think about each problem that was assigned, and then design and implement an algorithm to solve the problem. This was Computer Science! For most of the class, this wasn’t anything new however. A good portion of the students were programming long before they were seniors, myself included. The kids who hadn’t done any programming were having some hangups on the more complex assignments. I think this is because these kids were not able to successfully wrap their heads around how things in their programs actually work.

I can say from personal experience that when I started programming for the first time I was completely focused on syntax. I hadn’t been exposed to programming languages other than C++. I didn’t know anything about what Python, Java, Pascal, or Lisp looked like. For all I knew, it was the same stuff. I understood basic concepts – but I wasn’t able to get anywhere because my thoughts weren’t focused on solving problems, but rather syntax. Programming isn’t for the feint of heart, it’s something you have to work at – something I’m still working at. in a perfect world, a languages syntax wouldn’t matter at all. This isn’t the case in real life. I was hung up on syntax errors and warnings trying to get all these dated internet tutorials to work – but to no avail. I gave up and moved on – only to revisit this in high school.

How I was fixed

In high school I was fortunate to have access to a Computer Science class. Taking an actual class, for me, was so much more rewarding than trying to follow a tutorial on the internet that pretty much just summed up the syntax of the language without any demonstration of practical use or application. Taking this class allowed me to gather a greater grasp of what actually made up a program. It helped me see past the semicolons and parenthesis into the world of algorithmic complexity. I was enlightened. We learned about algorithms, and the bits that make up algorithms. We learned to see beyond syntax.

We learned a lot about programming, and the entire class ended up teaching each other. It was a really good experience. The kids that struggled eventually caught up, and all was right in the world. We learned to use the online documentation. I still have the sneaking suspicion that the code completion feature of the Net Beans IDE gave the stragglers a chance to skip over syntax…I know it helped me.

Yeah, and?

Forgive the rambling, I’m getting a little carried away about the subject. The moral of the story is: programmers have to see beyond syntax. They have to see the big picture. A real programmer needs to be adaptable, and in order to be adaptable, you have to learn how to apply syntax to concepts, and not concepts to syntax. I’m doing my best to become a real programmer. Are you? It’s not too late! Take an algorithms class!

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