Is programming the jack-of-all-trades of modern technology?

Programming is the key to the future of technology, the process of making computers carry out commands. As IT technology advances, programming is becoming increasingly important, and it’s becoming a staple in educational curricula.

 

When you were a kid, did you ever fantasize about the future? You might have imagined walking around and watching TV, having meetings on a screen, turning off the lights in your house from outside, and so on. Fast forward to the 21st century, and these technologies are becoming a reality in the name of IT. With so many companies turning their attention to IT, it’s no longer just about being strong and hardworking, it’s about being an IT technician – someone who can program. And if you’re good enough, it’s even seen as a dream job that will allow you to make a lot of money from the comfort of your own home. But what is this new skill that has suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
Before we talk about programming, let’s take a quick look at computers and programs for a better understanding. The word computer originally meant a calculator, or someone who used a calculator. Modern computers aren’t much different, they’re simply machines that perform certain calculations in a set order. The only difference is that they calculate based on their current state. Like a fluorescent light bulb that turns on or off depending on whether the switch is flipped, the calculation you’ve just performed determines what calculation you’ll perform next. But a computer itself is literally just a machine, and it doesn’t do anything until someone tells it to do something. This set of instructions, the manual that tells it what to do in this situation and what to do in that situation, is called a program, and the process of writing this manual is called programming.
So what does programming actually look like? It’s very similar to the process of writing. Just like writing in English and writing in Korean, programs are written using a specific language. Each language has a different philosophy, and the direction of your program will be very different depending on which language you write in, so the language you use is a reflection of your personality. Once you’ve decided on a language, the next step is to think about how you’re going to write your program. When you write, the quality of your writing is determined by the words you use to capture your thoughts and the flow you follow. In the same way, the quality of a program depends on how you choose and place the data structure, which is how you package the data that exists, and the algorithm, which is how you solve the program. Once you’ve arranged them in the right way, you need to translate them into a language that the computer can understand. Since programming languages are originally written in a language that humans, not computers, can understand, they need to go through a process called compilation to translate them into a computer language. Once compiled, the result is a program that we can actually use, written in a machine language called assembly.
If you look at the internet these days, you’ll see that programming is often presented as if it’s an all-purpose tool. It is. It’s certainly an amazing skill that can turn our imaginations into reality, from running robots to operating smartphones to hacking tools. But that doesn’t mean that programming is a one-size-fits-all. As we said earlier, a program is nothing more than a manual of contextual behavior, which means that if you don’t have an analysis of what to do in a given situation, you can’t even start programming. For example, if someone wanted to build a robot that could walk like a human, they would have to analyze everything from how the human leg is structured to how many muscles should be used at any given moment. Without this, it would be impossible to implement even bending the knee, let alone walking.
Since ancient times, people have had the desire to make their lives easier, and they’ve increasingly realized this by creating tools. As tools became more advanced, machines were created, and in modern times, this desire was realized in the form of computers. With computers, our technology has evolved to the point where we can do anything we want without moving, and something is already done before we even think about it. Programming was the starting point for all of this, and it’s still one of the most important skills of the 21st century. It’s now a skill that’s taught in almost every tech-related major in college, and there’s even a push to make it a required part of the curriculum. I hope that one day we will have a world where everyone can understand a little bit of programming.