Lesson 1 - Getting Started - An Overview

Welcome to Becoming a Programmer - Getting Started, the first in the Becoming a Programmer Series.

With the Becoming a Programmer Series, I want to teach you how to become a programmer.
That said, I want to do it properly by doing things a bit different from most of the programming courses you will encounter out there.
And there is a reason for this which I will explain later.

But, before you can write your first line of code, you need to have a solid understanding of the world of programming.
This Getting Started course will give you that foundation.

Please note that Getting Started is a theoretical course and as such, there will be no coding done.
However, the rest of the courses in the series will all be hands-on with lots of coding.

A warning may be in order.
Programming comes with a fair bit of frustration.
Its just part and parcel of the game we are in.
That said, you really learn when things go wrong!
So, be glad if things do not work out.
That's when you learn the most.
Embrace the frustrations!

If you are still here after this warning, you will find this journey into programming both fascinating and rewarding.
It's the closest adults come to playing with Lego® without playing with actual Lego.
As you progress through these courses, you will eventually understand what I mean by this.
It's a highly creative thing to build software applications.

Now that you feel welcome, let's see what you will learn in Getting Started.

The Getting Started course has 12 lessons.

Lesson 1 - An Overview

You are reading the first lesson right now.

Lesson 2 - Ecosystem

In lesson 2, we look at a real-world scenario that we will be using as a case-study throughout the whole series.
I deliberately picked something that we all can relate to irrespective of what country you are from.

Lesson 3 - Components of Information Technology

We all know somebody that works in IT.
But what does IT mean?
Lesson 3 solves that mystery once and for all.

Lesson 4 - Components of Information Systems

As the goal of this series is to teach you how to build Business Information Systems,
lesson 4 will teach you what an Information System is.

Lesson 5 - Types of Information Systems

In lesson 5, we will go deeper and look at the different types of Information Systems.

Lesson 6 - Information System Architecture

Lesson 6 explores how one will put together such an Information System.

Lesson 7 - Layers & Tiers

In lesson 7, we discuss layers and tiers.
It is a topic that confuses many beginners, so I thought it wise to tackle it as soon as possible.

Lesson 8 - Communication Between Information Systems

Information Systems 'talk' to each other.
In lesson 8, we will look at the different ways that this communication take place.

Lesson 9 - The Topics

To become a programmer, you need to know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff.
Lesson 9 takes that stuff and groups them into topics.
Each topic will then become a course in its own right.

Lesson 10 - The Order of Learning

In lesson 10, I show you what order you should do the courses in.
I have designed the series to be followed in a specific order, and I strongly suggest you follow it if you want to get most pout of the series.

Lesson 11 - In Summary

Repetition being the mother of skill, lesson 11 will do a brief summary of what you have learned in the previous modules.

Lesson 12 - What Next

Finally, lesson 12 will tell you, should ypu wish to continue with the series, where to go next.

Conclusion

With all that out of the way, let's jump into lesson 2 and see what real-world scenario we will use for this series.