Learning Python with Raspberry Pi

Introduction

COMPUTERS AREN'T JUST beige square things we use for work, they're everything that has a programmable processing unit at its heart. Games consoles, smartphones, GPS units, tablets and a mind-boggling range of other devices all work in the same way. They're all computers, and they've taken over the world. They're the things we use for work, for communications, and for relaxation. In fact, it's hard to think of an area that hasn't been taken over by computers.

Marketing people like to tell you that devices with embedded computers are smart (smartphones, smart TVs, smart watches, and so on), but the truth is they're not. The processing units are just bits of silicon that follow a set of instructions. The “smart” in a smartphone doesn't come from the computer chips, but from the people who program them.

Computers are the most powerful tools mankind has ever created, yet they're under-utilised because few people know how to unleash their full potential. In a world where everything is a computer, the most important people are the programmers who can realise their full power. Programming, then, is an essential skill that's only going to become more and more important in the future.

What Is Programming?

Computers, as we've said, aren't smart. They just follow a simple list of instructions one-by-one until they reach the end. That list of instructions is a program. Programming, then, is the process of taking a task, splitting it up into steps, and writing it down in a language ...