is really just a series of difficult concepts you have to wrap your head around in order, right? Then, what's the first one?
The first one should be to get it right. A program must have a domain and must properly handle every possible element from the domain.
This is basic stuff, but rarely ever pointed out, because programming is like cooking in which most everyone would rather eat shit instead.
Command/instruction.
Structures/algorithms.
I find it tricky when I'm forced to indent my code.
>>4
I would like to hear the reasoning behind that. Considering that algorithms are made up of instructions, it would make more sense to me to start with instructions first.
>>6
The nature of the data being processed informs which specific algorithms you design for your system. Subject to the requirements of the system, you'll need to figure out how to structure the data so that your algorithms can process a small subset of data with respect to the total dataset that your system will hold.
Let's consider the example of a business that is tracking a warehouse of items. In this scenario, it's common for the system to maintain data for hundreds of thousands of individual items. So your system would have to maintain item descriptions, names, codes, unit quantites, location, etc. Merely deciding on structure to store the data of the items is certainly going to affect the algorithms you're going to use to search for specific items. There are going to be algorithms that are suitable for your dataset-data structure, and there are going to be algorithms that are less suitable.
>>7
But why would it be the first concept someone learning to program has to understand? That's what the thread is about.
>>8
For the context of learning to comprehend computer programs and write programming logic, data structures and algorithms are next level concepts. The first elements to learn are variables, control structures, then functions. A fair understanding of these concepts will then lead to the next level which are data structures and algorithms.
>>9
I would put standard library to the same level as variables, control structures and functions. People often forget that theory without practice is dead. Typing `print "Hello world"`, running it and seeing results is worth 10s of hours of reading a book about it.