5 Things you Should Know About Coding
By Shari Steinbach, MS RDN, RDBA Contributing Editor
Do you ever wonder what the future of eCommerce is going to look like? Experts believe it will be a space where consumers are both enriched and supplemented above and beyond what is available at the present time. For instance, food products will be re-invented to suit personalized needs and will be available just at the time a shopper demands it. This will be made possible with intelligent insights and advanced analytics to make it easy to shop online. The power to make this happen actually lies in the hands of humans who will create coding to make a computer do complicated calculations, conduct research and extract needed information. Here are 5 things you should know about coding:
- Definition of coding: Coding is the act of translating ideas, problems and instructions from a human language to a machine-readable language. This translation happens thanks to programming languages and coding. Coding requires that you understand the particular grammar used for programming language to develop applications. Computer coding is used to create all web applications, websites, games, operating systems, and other software programs we use on a daily basis.
- Programming languages: JavaSctipt, Java, C/C++, and Python, are programming languages that act as the translator between humans and computers. These languages bridge the communication gap between machines and humans with the use of algorithms. The specific statements are similar to English but are a shorter, more exact way to create instructions that a computer can understand.
- Why you should learn coding basics: Data analysis is important in today’s digital world and coding is one of the basic skills needed. Knowing how to code can open doors to a new career move or add diversity to your present position. For example, choosing the best programming language and effective coding is essential for eCommerce because it can help a retailer achieve business goals by successfully addressing customer needs with a convenient, user-friendly platform. Learning to code provides you not only with technical knowledge but can also help you think about how to approach problems and projects, which can be extremely beneficial.
- How to learn coding: If you want to learn coding, first consider why it may be important to do so. This will help direct your educational search. Start with easy programming languages like HTML or CSS and look for online coding courses, or select a coding book to learn the basics. There are also coding games which can make it fun to learn. Like any new skill, if you truly want to master coding remember that practice is essential.
