lbjoseph Jun 30, 2011

Basics of Programming

Why Introduction

Why?

I remember having the desire to learn programming when I was 12 - I just wanted to make my own games. Sound familiar? Thinking it would be educational, my mom bought me a copy of Liberty BASIC . It was educational, mind you, but it was so engaging to me that she had a hard time getting me to do anything else for the next few years. Yes, I was a normal teenager and did things with friends, but most of my spare time alone was spent programming or reading about programming.

Learning and experimenting pays off, however. ~~For~~ As you can see, I am now ~~I am~~ writing this article to help you learn ~~how to program.~~ the basics of programming.

The Problem With Programming Tutorials

The problems with most programming tutorials you find online usually consist of the following:

They're not youth friendly. For all I know, you could be an aspiring preteen programmer like I was. In which case, this tutorial needs to be easy to understand by youth and adults.
They expect you to already know a different programming language. The question becomes, where do you start?
They start by teaching very difficult and often boring programming languages. This tutorial focuses on teaching the fun and easy to use Liberty BASIC.

Free Version

Yes, you don't actually have to purchase Liberty BASIC to follow this tutorial. You will probably want to, though, once you see what all it can do.

There is a free version of Liberty BASIC known as Just BASIC . It's missing a few features, but it's great fun nonetheless. All the code examples here will work in Just BASIC - I promise.

Before We Start

Liberty BASIC will be referred to as LB in this article. If you're using Just BASIC (JB), the steps are the same as they are in LB. So just follow along and pretend to know what you're doing, and everything will be good.

Experimenting is a great way to learn how to program. If you have an idea of your own, try it.

Also, none of the provided code in this article will hurt your system.

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