🥁🥁 Introducing "computer things" 🥁🥁 + a fun game!🕹

Let's talk about the very basics aka how to not keep newbies out of the world of programming

Hi there!

First off; Happy Diwali!! 🪔🪔🪔🎆🎆
May this new year bring health, happiness and prosperity to all of us. The last two years have been a rollercoaster — to say the very least — and may we see and appreciate normalcy again. All my love to all of you 💕

I celebrated with a mighty nice dinner of Nutri Aloo sabzi and Methi Parathas. I also made mithai cheesecake, lit diyas and thanked God for all I have.

Onwards!

Last week, I wrote about not even knowing the right verb to use for:
SQL, Beautiful Soup, Python, Pandas, Homebrew etc…
And since writing that, the confusion and chaos in my head has ebbed and flowed and I’ve become convinced of one little thing: Don't define a strange new thing using other strange new words. What happens is — a newbie reads it, understands nothing, either feels frustrated and tries harder or.. gives up. And, it doesn’t have to be this way.

So here I am trying to simplify programming in a series called computer things.

From a newbie to other newbies and to to-be-newbies;

Don’t stress too much. It’s confusing but it all (almost always) makes sense! If something isn’t logical, you’re right, it’s not! Sometimes, syntax¹ isn’t logical. It’s just how it is! Start your journey with HTML. It’ll warm you up just enough to dive in deeper and not feel too lost. Seek out free resources. They exist!! And, practice, practice, practice! Challenge yourself! If you feel lost, it’s more than okay to take a break; have a cup of chai (or a snack or both) and take a nap and try again. The important thing is to not give in to believing that those who code are somehow smarter than you are 🤷🏻‍♀️

Here’s lesson one in my computer things series:

If you see >>> in your terminal, you’re inside Python. If you see %, you’re inside… normal. But wait, what even is Terminal, Areena?! Sweat not! Here’s your answer!

What is the terminal?
Also called Command Line (for Windows’ folks. Terminal for Apple ones)

It looks like this:

There’s nothing glamorous about how it looks; this is really it 🤷🏻‍♀️
Here’s what it does: It tells your computer what to do. For instance; if you type ls (which is a command²), the computer will print out a list of items in that particular folder. Something like this:

I know this is really, really basic. But, that’s the whole point; starting from scratch and taking it all one step at a time. If you want to try out some quick commands, open terminal (command line on Windows) on your computer and try playing this game:
https://web.mit.edu/mprat/Public/web/Terminus/Web/main.html
And, if you’re interested in learning more, give these a read:

1. Terminal for beginners!
   Easy read

2. Anatomy of a Terminal Emulator
   Slightly complicated read

That’s all for now. Happy, happy Diwali, again!

1. Syntax —> How things are put together: rules. Just like grammar!

2. Commands —> Instructions. Just words/sentences that tell the computer what to do!