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Nicholas Bratcher-Bouyer
38 PointsI would like to know what I have accomplished by completing the first course?
I understand the terminology a little bit, but what I would like to know is what is the purpose of the exercise? What is it that I'm actually creating and how does it help me with app development?
Why exactly did I type console.printf ("Hello, my name is Nick"); What about this is related to coding? What is the end result if I were to look at this from the consumer's end?
2 Answers
Vincent Travers
Courses Plus Student 4,145 PointsThe very first course of each language assumes no knowledge of the language whatsoever. The "Hello World" program is a common starting point throughout most courses and it gives a very small idea of the code, whilst giving a newbie coder a sense of achievement, after all they can see a result from the small piece of code they have written.
Naturally this will feel very basic and pointless to some, but to others they would benefit. Where should a course start? The approach taken is one from the very beginning. I understand the course also gives an overview of the language too. This is also a very important piece of information for someone new to coding. From consumer and value for money view this depends on your level of knowledge prior to starting. If the course is of no value to you, why not skip through to a point you do need to learn? If its important to complete all videos and challenges, do them later if you want.
Everyone is different and has different knowledge to begin with and finding a starting place that would suit everyone would be impossible, however i feel that the courses are laid out well enough for users to understand where to jump to if they already have some knowledge.,
Katie Wood
19,141 PointsHi there,
In general, a fully-developed application with a graphical interface won't have the end user looking at the console. However, it's important to know how to do it. I'm just going to give a quick example of how the console can be useful, as something to consider:
It allows you to (temporarily) ignore the interface aspect and write interactive programs using only the console, which lets you focus on the logic for now. Even in a project that will have the interface, writing it out as a console application first can be helpful - it lets you make sure all the logic is working correctly before you worry about getting the interface working the way you want.
For learning purposes, it's also one of the quickest ways to get you writing interactive programs.