Welcome to Script Scrap
Programming and scripting can be used for many things in the world of computers. Almost any computer task can be automated with a script. There are many scripting and programming languages available.
Why should I learn coding or programming?
There are many reasons to learn to code. Every where we look we see computers. Most people don't use their computer very effectively. Many people could do things much quicker on their computers if they would learn a few simple coding skills. Even one language can help someone a lot and once you learn one computer language, more come easily. There is no end to what you can do but it is easy to start.
What Language should I use?
It depends on what you want to do. Do you want to enhance your office program, Create neat computer graphics, Make your own website, or something else? Many applications have a programming language associated with them so that the end user can shorten his tasks if he wants to and knows how. If you use Microsoft Office, try learning VBA. If you use Open Office try learning Basic. If you use Blender consider Python, If you spend a lot of time in your web browser, look into the languages of the web: HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, and SQL. If you simply want to do basic math or basic file operations consider C, C++, or C#.
As you browse this site you can discover the uses of some of the many languages out there.
There are several things to consider when deciding which language to use for a given task:
- The level:
- Very low level languages are hard to write in but they execute very fast and can be compiled to run on almost any system. Some of the lowest level languages include Assembly and machine language.
- Machine language is the lowest level. It is just binary code, 1's and 0's.
- Assembly is next being almost as low level.
- Other lower level languages include C, C#, Pascal, Fortran, and many others.
- Higher level languages include BASIC, VBA, PHP, Java, and Javascript.
- Higher level languages are much easier to write in but have much more specific uses.
- More and more languages are being adapted so that both high level and low level work can be done in the same language
- The platform:
- Some common platforms are PC, Mac, and Linux. Many more are being added as devices such as ipads and smart phones become popular.
- Some languages are cross platform. Lower level languages tend to be more portable and less device specific.
- Some platforms are device independent such as programming for the Internet.
- The purpose:
- If you just want to write a short script to copy a lot of files then C, or C# might be too powerful.
- If you want to create a high speed graphics video game then VBA, or BASIC would not give you the flexibility you need.
What are the advantages of the “Web” and the “Cloud”?
When running your programs on your personal computer you are limited by your hardware. Running on the cloud you can get lots of resources for free and even more resources if you pay for them. Not only that, all your information is synchronized. You can work on your projects from whichever device and whatever location you want to.
Web development
The Internet is one of the fastest growing platforms because almost anything can run on the Internet. Placing your code on a server can allow anyone to run it remotely. The world wide web, a part of the Internet, is a popular platform to code for because it is standardized, easy to read, and quite powerful.
- The basic language is HTML which stands for hyper-text markup language. That is the code you can see if you right-click this page and select
view page source
. HTML can be enhanced with several other languages: - CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and allows you to specify style rules for all of your pages.
- PHP is a recursive acronym standing for for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. This language runs on the server before the page is sent to the user's computer so that only the web master can see what is contained in this part of the page.
- Javascript is a simple but helpful scripting language that adds animation to the user's page.
- SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It allows the web page to communicate with databases on the server side so that it can load information for the user.
- XML stands for X Markup Language. It provides another way to store information - in markup form.