Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Third Edition

Common Misconceptions

People seem to either love computers or hate them. Typically, a person's dislike for computers directly reflects a lack of knowledge. Despite worldwide use of computers, many people still know very little about them. To those people, computers and the programs that drive them are nothing more than magic boxes that mere mortals need not understand.

People need to understand that a computer is nothing more than a dumb machine that “knows” absolutely nothing. A computer is a slave that waits on your every command and acts out your instructions exactly as you give them. Sometimes the program instructions are incorrect. If they are, the computer goes right ahead and attempts them anyway.

Computers are not only useful tools; they ...