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‎README.md

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@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ the chapter you're trying to read.** However, the chapters are mostly
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independent from each other, so you can also use this tutorial together
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with other tutorials.
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1. [Quick introduction to this tutorial](introduction.md)
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1. [What is programming?](what-is-programming.md)
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2. [Installing Python](installing-python.md)
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3. [Getting started with Python](getting-started.md)
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4. [ThinkPython: The way of the program](the-way-of-the-program.md)

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‎introduction.md

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‎what-is-programming.md

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# What is programming?
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**Feel free to [skip this part](#how-to-read-this-tutorial) if you already
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know everything it's talking about.**
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As a computer user you know that computers don't have feelings. They don't
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work any faster or slower depending on if you're angry at them or if you're
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happy. Computers can perform millions of calculations per second, but they
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require you to tell them exactly what to do. If they do something else than
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you want them to do the problem is usually that they don't understand your
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instructions the way you understand them.
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The only big difference between programming and what you're familiar with
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already is that instead of clicking buttons to do things we write the
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instructions using a **programming language**. Most programming languages
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consist of English words, digits and some characters that have special
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meanings. This tutorial uses a programming language called Python because it's
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easy to learn and you can do many different things with it. For example, you
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can create your own applications that have buttons that people can click
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instead of just using applications written by others.
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Before we can get started with Python you need to know how to write some of
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Python's special characters with your keyboard. Unfortunately I don't know
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which keys you need to press to produce these characters because your keyboard
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is probably different than mine. But the keyboard can tell what you
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need to press. For example, my Finnish keyboard has a key like this:
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![A key on my keyboard.](images/key.png)
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Here's what the characters on this key mean:
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- I can type a number 7 by pressing this key without holding down other keys
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at the same time.
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- I can type a `/` character by holding down the shift key (on the left edge
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of the keyboard, between Ctrl and CapsLock) and pressing this key.
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- I can type a `{` character by holding down AltGr (on the bottom of the
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keyboard, on the right side of the spacebar) and pressing this key.
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Holding down Ctrl and Alt instead of AltGr may also work.
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The only key that doesn't have anything written on it is spacebar. It's the
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big, wide key that's closest to you. Another key that's used for producing
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whitespace is tab, the key above CapsLock.
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In this tutorial we need to know how to type these characters. We'll learn
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their meanings later.
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| Character | Names |
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|-----------|---------------------------------------|
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| `+` | plus |
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| `-` | minus, dash, hyphen |
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| `_` | underscore |
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| `*` | star, asterisk |
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| `/` | forwardslash (it's leaning forward) |
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| `\` | backslash (it's leaning back) |
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| `=` | equals sign |
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| `%` | percent sign |
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| `.` | dot |
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| `,` | comma |
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| `:` | colon |
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| `?` | question mark |
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| `!` | exclamation mark |
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| `<` `>` | less-than and greater-than signs |
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| `'` `"` | single quote and double quote |
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| `#` | hashtag |
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| `()` | parentheses |
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| `[]` | square brackets, brackets |
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| `{}` | curly braces, braces, curly brackets |
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That may seem like many characters, but you probably know many of them already
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so it shouldn't be a problem.
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## How to read this tutorial
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I've done my best to make this tutorial as easy to follow as possible. Other
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people have commented on this and helped me improve this a lot also. But what
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should you do if you have a problem with the tutorial?
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1. Try the example code yourself.
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2. Read the code and the explanation for it again.
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3. If there's something you haven't seen before in the tutorial and it's
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not explained, try to find it from the previous chapters.
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4. If you still have trouble understanding the tutorial or any other problems
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with the tutorial, please [tell me about it](contact-me.md). I want to
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improve this tutorial so other readers won't have the same problem as you
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have.
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5. See [Getting help](getting-help.md) if you can't contact me for some
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reason.
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You are free to combine this tutorial with other learning resources. If this
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tutorial isn't exactly what you're looking for you don't need to stick with
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nothing but this. You can find another tutorial and mix the tutorials however
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you want as long as you **make sure that you understand everything you read**.
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One of the most important things with learning to program is to **not
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fear mistakes**. If you make a mistake, your computer will not break in
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any way. You'll get an error message that tells you what's wrong and
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where. Even professional programmers do mistakes and get error messages
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all the time, and there's nothing wrong with it.
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Even though a good tutorial is an important part about learning to
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program, you also need to learn to make your own things. Use what you
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have learned, and create something with it.
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## Summary
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- Now you should know what programming and programming languages are.
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- You don't need to remember how to type different characters. Just find the
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character on your keyboard and press the key, holding down shift or AltGr
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as needed.
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- Make sure you understand everything you read.
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- Don't fear mistakes.
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- Error messages are your friends.
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- Let me know if you have trouble with this tutorial.
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- Now we're ready to [install Python](installing-python.md) and
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[get started](getting-started.md)!
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***
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You may use this tutorial at your own risk. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).

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