Programming Languages: Let's get into it!

Behind every great app or computer, there's a programming language. There are several different types of languages, each of them having their own unique qualities. As a student, I was had the opportunity to use a free software called Scratch, which allows a user to create their own basic computer program for free. In this blog post I will be sharing my experiences with this free web application and some of the basics about computer languages.

There are several different types of computer programming languages that are used by computers (Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2019)). Machine Language represents one of the earliest computer languages, and it runs commands written with 0s and 1s. Assembly language is human-readable. Writing commands in the native human tongue, the information is then converted using an assembler, which is passed into machine language to the computer. Lastly, there is a type of programming language called high-level language. High-level languages can execute more complex functions; examples of such languages are C++, Java, Javascript, and Python.

All the various high-level languages have pros and cons and require different skill sets to write. According to TIOBE.com and their ranking index, Python is currently the top-ranking program language (TIOBE. (2023)). I found high-level languages the easiest to work with because they take the least amount of thinking to interpret. Of all the high-level languages, my personal favorite is SQL since it is the one I am most familiar with. On the contrary, I found machine language difficult to interpret quickly.

To get some practice writing a computer program, I decided to work with a free web application called Scratch. Scratch can be used by anyone with little to no technical programming language background. With Scratch, you can create your very own basic program!

With a simple user interface, you select from a menu on one side of the screen a variety of code elements that are then dragged and dropped into a “coding” area. These code elements are a wide variety of items such as actions, motions, behaviors, process etc. The code is then tied to the character, which will behave in whatever way you have designed and sequenced it to. The characters themselves and the background images are also customizable.

I decided to use Scratch to write a program that made a few different characters move around the screen, share various speech bubbles, and also have the video play sound. At first, I found the list of code options overwhelming, but the tutorial videos helped give some much-needed clarity. I started by working with one character to customize at a time. Once I felt comfortable using Scratch, I started making more customizations, like changing colors or sounds.This was a really fun activity!

As the industry expects, the programming languages used to make computers and technology function will continue to evolve and expand their abilities over time. It’s important as IT professionals that we have a basic understanding of how these languages work so that we know their interactions with the rest of the technology. With the combination of the learning activities in the textbook and using Scratch, I got a brief, enjoyable, and hands-on introduction to writing a basic computer program.