Programming Basics

Chapter 1: How Programs Work

• Using Keywords as Building Blocks
• Organizing a Program
• Dividing a Program into Subprograms
• Dividing a Program into Objects
• Creating a User Interface

Chapter 2: Variables, Data Types, and Constants

• Declaring Variables
• Using Different Data Types
• Storing Data in a Variable
• Retrieving Data from a Variable
• Using Constant Values
• Defining the Scope of a Variable

Chapter 3: Manipulating Data

• Storing Data with the Assignment Operator
• Using Math to Manipulate Numbers
• Manipulating Strings
• Finding Strings with Regular Expressions
• Using Comparison Operators
• Using Boolean Operators
• Converting Data Types

Chapter 4: Making Decisions by Branching

• Picking One Choice with the IF-THEN Statement
• Picking Two Choices with the IF-THEN-ELSE Statement
• Picking Three or More Choices with the IF-THEN-ELSEIF Statement
• Playing with Multiple Boolean Operators
• Making Multiple Choices with the SELECT CASE Statement

Chapter 5: Repeating Commands by Looping

• Looping a Fixed Number of Times with the FOR-NEXT Loop
• Looping Zero or More Times with the WHILE Loop
• Looping at Least Once with the DO Loop
• Playing with Nested Loops
• Prematurely Exiting from a Loop
• Checking Your Loops

Chapter 6: Breaking a Large Program into Subprograms

• Creating and Using Subprograms
• Passing Parameters
• Repeating a Subprogram with Recursion

Chapter 7: Breaking a Large Program into Objects

• How Object-Oriented Programming Works
• Encapsulation Isolates Data and Subprograms
• Sharing Code with Inheritance
• Polymorphism: Modifying Code without Changing Its Name
• Design Patterns
• Object-Oriented Languages
• Real-Life Programming Examples

Chapter 8: Reading and Saving Files

• Storing Data in Text Files
• Storing Fixed-Size Data in Random-Access Files
• Storing Varying-Size Data in Untyped Files
• Using Database Files

Chapter 9: Documenting Your Program

• Adding Comments to Source Code
• Writing Software Documentation

Chapter 10: Principles of User Interface Design

• The Evolution of User Interfaces
• Elements of a User Interface
• Designing a User Interface

Chapter 11: Debugging and Testing

• Common Types of Programming Errors
• Debugging with Comments and Print Statements
• Breakpoints, Stepping, and Watching
• Testing Code