Thoughts on Challenge #1

If you look in the dictionary, one of the definitions for program is

a plan or schedule of activities, procedures, etc., to be followed.

Believe it or not, you just did some programming for challenge #1!

The concept of coding seems simple: you are just writing directions in a very specific way so it will be followed according to what you had in mind.

But as many of you commented on the challenge, what seemed simple at first was actually a lot harder in practice.

That’s because if you didn’t use just the right words or you weren’t specific, detailed, or organized enough it’s possible that your instructions will be misinterpreted —something that happened with even my own instructions for this challenge.

Coding is hard. You have to do exactly what you did in the challenge and take it a step even further.

For example, here’s an example from your peers which I was thought reasonably detailed:

  1. Grab 2 slices of bread
  2. Place one slice of bread flat
  3. Get a slice of turkey and “layer” it flat on the slice of bread
  4. Repeat until 5 total slices of turkey are layered on the piece of bread
  5. Place a piece of pepper jack cheese of the top
  6. Spread mayonnaise evenly using a knife in a back and forth motion on the flat side of the other slice of bread
  7. Place the slice of bread with the mayonnaise facing downward (toward the cheese) on the stack of cheese, turkey, and bread
  8. Enjoy sandwich.

Looks pretty good right? Unfortunately a computer might respond like this:

what is grab? what is bread?

So how detailed do you have to be? Maybe something like this:

  1. Describe what bread is (that white fluffy looking thing over there with light brown edges)
  2. Describe what a plate is (that round, white flat thing with edges that curve up)
  3. Take your hand and open it so the fingers are apart
  4. Move hand towards the bread and touch it with your fingers
  5. When fingers are touching the bread, close hand by moving fingers together and make sure that some of the bread remains between the fingers
  6. If you lift your hands up, the bread should move with your hands
  7. Now move your hands towards the plate until it’s directly on top of it by about 2-3 inches
  8. Do something similar from #2 so the bread drops on to the plate

Yes, computer programming is something like this.