Computer programming: What it is and what you need to know to learn it

While programming may sound complicated, it is, at its core, the process of dictating instructions and solving problems. And the ability to do that, at least in front of a computer screen, has been a relatively scarce skill set over the past 50 years or so. 

That’s what’s driven growth in the tech sector and an interest in programming. Median salaries for programmers, as of 2022, were just shy of $100,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Programming has become increasingly competitive, but it can still be a viable career option for many—but it all starts with gaining a fundamental understanding of what it is, and what it entails. 

What is computer programming? 

Computer programming involves using a programming language to write programs, which are a set of instructions dictating what a computer should do. “A computer on its own does nothing, you need to give it instructions so it’ll do what you want it to do,” says Grace Lewis, First Vice President of the IEEE Computer Society.

“The essence of coding is telling a computer to perform some task on your behalf,” she says. “If a certain situation happens, then calculate this in a certain way,” she adds, as programmers need to anticipate the decision points that a computer will run into when performing a task, and need instructions as to how to navigate. 

Other experts define programming or coding in more or less the same way. An effective programmer “needs to be able to tell the computer what to do, to perform an action or response to a user’s input,” says Dr. Sriram Mohan,…