Programming is the most creative thing you can learn how to do. Why? If you learn to
paint, you can create pictures. If you learn to play the violin, you can make music. But
if you learn to program, you can create entirely new experiences (and you can make
pictures and music too, if you wish). Once you’ve started on the programming path,
there’s no limit to where you can go. There are always new devices, technologies, and
marketplaces where you can use your programming skills.
Think of this book as your first step on a journey to programming enlightenment. The
best journeys are undertaken with a destination in mind, and the destination of this
journey is “usefulness.” By the end of this book, you will have the skills and knowledge
to write useful programs.
However, before we begin, a small word of warning. Just as a guide would want to tell
you about the lions, tigers, and crocodiles that you might encounter on a safari, I must
tell you that our journey might not be all smooth going. Programmers must learn to
think slightly differently about problem solving, because a computer just doesn’t work
the same way humans do. Humans can do complex things rather slowly. Computers
can do simple things very quickly. It is the programmer’s job to harness the simple
abilities of the machine to solve complicated problems. This is what you’ll learn to do.
The key to success as a programmer is much the same as for many other endeavors.
To become a world-renowned violin player, you will have to practice a lot. The same
is true for programming. You must spend a lot of time working on your programs to
acquire code-writing skills. However, the good news is that just as a violin player really
enjoys making the instrument sing, making a computer do exactly what you want
turns out to be a very rewarding experience. It gets even more enjoyable when you
see other people using programs that you’ve written and finding them useful and
fun to use.