Understanding the task

Before you even start pressing buttons on your keyboard and spending a lot of time on it, you have to know why you are doing it in the first place. What problem do you have to solve anyway? What process are you trying to streamline? What error are you trying to fix?

www.nasa.gov, at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, scientists have to understand every detail in a problem. Any mistake will certainly result in a disaster. Launching a rocket into space is certainly something complicated. All the scientists have to cooperate in making a successful rocket launch .

You have to understand the task at hand before you even start programming. Understanding the task is crucial because if you do not understand the problem then you will not be able to solve it. The chances of solving a problem that you do not understand are very slim and more often than not, impossible.

For purposes of illustration, the problem at hand now is to display the message “Hello World” on your computer screen. This problem is always used as an example in almost all introductory programming courses. It is a great way to familiarize the student with basic programming.