Summary

Programming with sequence and data involves two things:

1. Thinking about the values you will need in your program.
2. Thinking about the sequence of steps you will need to get the outcome you want.

You need to think about both of these together. Break down your problems into small discrete steps, each of which gets you a little closer toward your goal.

With each piece of data, think “Does this need to change?” If the answer is yes, then use a variable. If no, use a constant. At the same time, think “What kind of value is this?” If it is a number, is it a whole number (int) or a real number (double)? This will help you make the many small decisions you need to make as you craft your code.

In the next chapter we will look into the way we can communicate the syntax of a programming language, before we move on to the coding statements we need to make our programs more dynamic and interactive.