Why should you program?

Before you learn to program, it's super important that you why you should, and critically, what you'll get out of it. Maybe you're already have a goal in mind, or something else that drives you, but I'd highly recommend you keep reading. It'll be worth your time, I promise.

Also, I realize these might be a bit long. As you progress throughout this course, there will be a lot less reading and lot more building.

Programming is like math. No, you won't be crunching numbers in your head, or even touching the quadratic formula. In fact, many of those who go into programming won't use the type of math you or I have learned in school in their day-to-day activities. But nonetheless, programming is like math.

The core of math, what drives us to discover the future, is our curiosity. Math isn't about multiplying numbers, or even solving an equation—that's applying math—but rather discovering something new, something no human has ever laid eyes upon, and using it to solve real problems in the real world. It's about solving puzzles with no answer, with a prize nothing short of the world. If you get past the busywork of repeating the same thing over and over again, you'll find many fields are just like this, full of world of wonder if you only dig deep enough, and computer science is one of them. In this way, programming is like math.

Programming is also not like math. Results in math aren't very tangible—you might have a few equations, but to many, that just isn't worth the effort. Programming on the other hand, gives you actual, tangible results. You can build something that solves an actual problem in your life, create something spectacular that you can use to help (or maybe just show off to) others, or you can explore the unexplored.

Programming can be used for so many things, and this course aims to allow you to explore many of them. During this course, you won't be taking a straight path. You can focus on learning some specific areas, and applying knowledge from one area of programming to another. On that note, here's a list of some of the many things that can be accomplished using programming:

• Game development. Create your own games or interactive experiences, and share them with the world.
• Web development. Create a website for anything. Cratecode is made using web development. What will you make with it?
• App development. Create applications that serve a purpose. You can make desktop or console applications that work on some user input to achieve a goal. The possibilities are endless!
• And many more. You can create bots for your favorite social platform or even entire programming languages.

Finally, remember that everything is made using programming. Cratecode, the browser you're accessing it in, every application you use, and your operating system, all were made using programming. The world is built on programming, and you can help build what comes next.