What is Programming?

Have you ever given a friend directions to your house? You might say: "Walk straight, then turn left, then go two blocks." Programming is just like that. Except instead of giving directions to a friend, you give directions to a computer! A computer is very good at following instructions, but it can only do exactly what you tell it. It cannot guess, and it never skips a step. That's why learning to give clear, careful instructions is the very first skill every programmer learns.

Sequences

The instructions you give a computer are called a sequence. It is a list of steps that happen one at a time, in order. A program tells the computer what to do first, second, and third. If even one step is in the wrong place, the whole result changes.

On the right is a simple game where you will write your own sequence of arrows: up, down, left, right, or diagonal. Watch the pen follow every single step, in exactly the order you wrote them. Every time you try to draw a shape and something goes a little sideways, take a look at your arrows, spot what went wrong, fix it, and run it again.