Computer Programming - Basic Programming Skills - Essay Example

Programming Languages Basic Programming Skills Table of Contents Introduction 3 JAVA 3 Pros of JAVA 4 Cons of JAVA 4 JavaScript 5 Pros of JavaScript 5 Cons of JavaScript 6 Conclusion 6 References 8 Introduction Programming has become an essential requirement for many of the job profiles and opportunities that are available in the present times. It is therefore required for the individuals to have the basic programming knowledge to be eligible for many of the opportunities. Also, these skills will allow the resources to solve many of the technical problems and issues. Web based applications and programmes are being used in almost all the sectors. Therefore, it shall be ensured that the basic knowledge of these applications is learned. There are several programming languages that are available and two such languages have been discussed that will allow acquiring of the basic programming skills and knowledge. JAVA Dynamic languages are easier to be learned by the beginners as they offer the ability to be flexible and also are fun to learn. There are lesser rules and lines of codes that are involved in these languages that aid in understanding of the basic skills and rules of programming (Fan, 2012). JAVA is a programming language that comes under the category of dynamic and object oriented programming languages. Learning and acquiring the abilities to write a code and understand a code in JAVA is similar as acquiring the grammar skills for any spoken language. It means that JAVA is the base for programming and once a programmer acquires the basic of JAVA, he or she can easily understand the programming framework and structure. Java programs run on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). There are several popular platforms and operating systems that support JVM such as Windows and Linux and the programs that are written on the language can easily run on these platforms. JVM is the infrastructure that allows the JAVA codes to be written once which may run on any of the platforms (Javatpoint, 2017). Java makes use of Java Application Programming Interface which is referred as API and it a set of pre-defined classes that can be used in the codes and programs. APIs are like the dictionaries that can be used for understanding the meaning of various paradigms and works that are used in the language. The programmer will therefore be able to learn the basics of programming with the aid of acquiring the knowledge and skills of Java (Usfca, 2014). There are various pros and cons that are associated with Java that has been summarized below. Pros of JAVA JAVA is one of the programming languages that are a general purpose language that may be used to write simplest to extremely complex codes. Therefore, knowledge of JAVA will be used and applied in a wide variety of codes and applications. JAVA is one of the object oriented programming languages that provides the features such as robustness and inter-operatibility to it. These features allow the programmers with the ease of coding as the effort required to code is lesser as compared to other languages. The code can be written just once and it will be usable in a number of different platforms and systems. The syntax that is used in Java is simple and easy to learn. It will provide the beginners with the ability to adapt to the language with much ease and will also provide the confidence to go further in the world of programming (Dwarampudi, 2011). There are no destructors required in Java and therefore the finalization and cleanup tasks are automatically done. The best feature about Java is that its framework is open source in nature that is there is no cost required to use and implement it. The beginners in the area of application programming can therefore easily make use of the language for the learning and acquiring of the skills. Cons of JAVA There are however certain cons that are associated with the programming language as well. These drawbacks have been listed below. There is an interpreter that is required to run the codes and applications that are written in this language. Therefore, assistance from the system on which the code is running is required for the execution of the code. The process of garbage collection is automatic in case of Java. However, there have been cases wherein the task is inadequately performed. Generic programming is not possible in case of Java and therefore there are no templates that may be used for coding a particular program or an application. References play a very significant role in a Java code as everything is referenced to something else in the code. In case of the changes to be incorporated, there are at times issues that come up as the entire structure gets changed (Prechelt, 2000). JavaScript It is always recommended to learn the simple terms and methods first to clear the basic before moving on to the learnings and methods that are complex in nature. The present era is the era of web programs and web based applications and a majority of these applications are written in JavaScript. In the world of web design and web development, JavaScript is the most popular language that is present and also assists the programmer to clear out the basic so that the programming skills may be acquired (Haverbeke, 2014). JavaScript is a dynamic programming language that is lightweight in nature and is used for the creation of the web pages so that the interaction between the system and the user can be enhanced. One of the prime reasons that the programmers shall learn this language is that the language does not require the runtime environments to be configures unlike the other programming languages. There are many easily available tools that are available that are low on cost and some of them are also open source in nature which may be used for writing the codes in the JavaScript language. There is often confusion between Java and JavaScript. However, the two languages are completely different from each other apart from the fact that they are dynamic and easy to learn to understand the basic of programming (Morin, 2016). Pros of JavaScript There are several pros and advantages that are associated with JavaScript. These pros are as listed and described below. The language allows the programmer to validate the input that is being provided before the web page is uploaded and sent to the server. In this manner, the programmer may get to know the defects present, if any and will also put lesser load on the server. The feedback that is associated with a particular page is immediate. In such a manner, there is no waiting time involved and the programmer may quickly understand the changes that are required to be implemented in the code. The web pages that are created using JavaScript will provide the users with a high level of interaction such as execution of an activity when mouse hover occurs and likewise. In such a manner, the programmer will be able to create interaction with the users with just basic programming skills (Osmani, 2012). The web development that is done using this language is being used in a huge number of applications and there are rich interfaces that are created. Cons of JavaScript There is however certain cons that are associated with JavaScript and these may be involved when acquiring the skills associated with the language. JavaScript is a language that can be used at client side or the server side. In case of client side scripting, reading or writing of the files is not allowed because of the security concerns. Networking and communication is one of the prime application areas that are available and present in the current times. JavaScript cannot be applied and used in this area. Multi-threading and multi-processor activities are required to learn the basics of programming. However, such a support is not available in case of JavaScript (Jscripters, 2017). Conclusion Basic programming languages are necessary for acquiring the basic skills associated with programming. There are many languages and tools that are available which may be used for acquiring the skills related with the programming languages. JAVA and JavaScript are two such languages that may be used and learnt so that the basic programming skills may be developed. It is because of the reason that there are a variety of employment opportunities that demand the resources to be skilled in terms of the basic programming knowledge. This demand has been created due to the increase in the use of the web based services and applications. Also, it has been observed that non-technical industries and sectors are also using web based applications in some area or the other. All of these reasons make up for acquiring the basic programming skills in the present times. There are certain pros and cons that are related with every programming language and the same shall be considered before selecting the languages that are to be learned. Java and JavaScript have been recommended as the two basic languages to learn as these will cover all of the essential areas of programming which may be used and applied in other languages as well. References Dwarampudi, V. (2011). Comparative study of the Pros and Cons of Programming languages Java, Scala, C++, Haskell, VB .NET, AspectJ, Perl, Ruby, PHP & Scheme. [online] Available at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1008.3431.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Fan, X. (2012). 55 New Features in Java SE 8. [online] Available at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/cn/community/developer-day/2-55-new-features-java-se-8-2202551-zhs.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Haverbeke, M. (2014). Eloquent JavaScript A Modern Introduction to Programming. [online] Available at: http://eloquentjavascript.net/Eloquent_JavaScript.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Javatpoint (2017). Features of Java - Javatpoint. [online] www.javatpoint.com. Available at: https://www.javatpoint.com/features-of-java [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Jscripters (2017). Javascript Advantages And Disadvantages | JScripters.com: developing a site with Javascript. [online] Jscripters.com. Available at: http://www.jscripters.com/javascript-advantages-and-disadvantages/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Morin, P. (2016). Introduction to JavaScript. [online] Available at: http://cglab.ca/~morin/teaching/2405/notes/javascript1.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Osmani, A. (2012). Learning JavaScript Design Patterns. [online] Available at: http://dokumentation.adnuvo.com/viden/Javascript/Learning.JavaScript.Design.Patterns.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Prechelt, L. (2000). An empirical comparison of C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl for a search/string-processing program. [online] Available at: http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/prechelt/Biblio/jccpprtTR.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Usfca (2014). Java Basics. [online] Available at: https://www.cs.usfca.edu/~parrt/doc/java/JavaBasics-notes.pdf [Accessed 2 Jun. 2017]. Read More