Basic programming/algorithmic concepts [closed]

Answer 1

start out with a simple "hello world" program. This introduces fundamentals such as variables, writing to a stream and program flow.

Then add complexity from there (linked lists, file io, getting user input, etc).

The reason I say start with hello world is because the kid will get to see a running program really quick. It's nearly immediate feedback-as they will have written a running program right from the start.

Answer 2

Make programming fun!

Possible things to talk about would be Programming Competitions that either your club could hold itself or it could enter in locally. I compete in programming competitions at the University (ACM) level and I know for a fact that they have them at lower levels as well.

Those kind of events can really draw out some competitive spirit and bring the club members closer.

Things don't always have to be about programming either. Perhaps suggest having a LAN party where you play games, discuss programming, etc could be a good idea as well.

In terms of actual topics to go over that are programming/algorithm related, I would suggest as a group attempting some of these programming problems in this programming competition primer "Programming Challenges": Amazon Link

They start out with fairly basic programming problems and slowly progress into problems that require various Data Structures like:

• Stacks
• Queues
• Dictionaries
• Trees
• Etc

Most of the problems are given in C++.

Eventually they progress into more advanced problems involving Graph Traversal and popular Graph algorithms (Dijkstra's, etc) , Combinatrics problems, etc. Each problem is fun and given in small "story" like format. Be warned though, some of these are very hard!

Edit: Pizza and Soda never hurts either when it comes to getting people to show up for your club meetings. Our ACM club has pizza every meeting (once a month). Even though most of us would still show up it is a nice ice breaker. Especially for new clubs or members.

Answer 3

Well, it's a programming club, so it should be FUN! So I would say dive into some hand on experience right away. Start with explaining what a main() method is,then have students write a hello world program. Gradually improve the hello world program so it has functions and prints out user inputs.

I would say don't go into algorithm too fast for beginners, let them play with C++ first.

Answer 4

As for the language of choice - congratulations - you'll find C++ is very rich in making you think of mathematical shortcuts and millions of ways to make your code perform even better (or to implement fancy patterns).

To the question: When I was beggining to program I would always try to break down one real life problem into several steps and then as I see similarity between tasks or data they transform I would always try to find a lazier, easier, meanier way to implement it.

Elegance came after when learning patterns and real algorithms.

Answer 5

1. Explain the "Fried eggs" story. Ask the auditory what they would do to make themselves fried eggs. Make them note the step they think about. Probably you will receive less than 5 steps algorithm. Then explain them how many steps should be written down if we want to teach a computer to fry eggs. Something like:

1) Go to the Fridge 
2) Open the fridge door 
3) Search for eggs 
4) If there are no eggs - go to the shop to buy eggs ( this is another function ;) ) 
5) If there are eggs - calculate how many do you need to fry 
6) Close the fridge door 
7) e.t.c. :)

2. Start with basics of C - syntax semantics e.t.c, and in parallel with that explain the very basic algorithms like bubble sort.
3. After the auditory is familiar with structured programming (this could take several weeks or months, depending how often you make the lessons), you can advance to C++ and OOP.

Answer 6

Pseudocode should be a very first.

Edit: If they are total programming beginners then I would make the first half just about programming. Once you get to a level where talking about algorithms would make sense then pseudocode is really important to get under the nails.