Programming Foundations

System Administrators and support staff who require a technical knowledge of programming, to help them produce better code, to understand programming concepts, or as a precursor to further training.

The course is also suitable for trainee programmers who have little or no in-depth knowledge of programming. It can act as a primer for delegates new to programming who are looking to train on languages such as C, C++, Perl, Python, C# and Visual Basic

Delegates will learn how to
•Describe the components of a computer system
•Understand the purpose of Operating Systems and third-party libraries
•Describe the phases of software development
•Read and produce simple program flow charts
•Understand the underlying structure of data types
•Choose a suitable data type for a specific task
•Use basic operators, and understand precedence
•Understand how the stack is used to pass data
•Recognise different abstract file types, and their uses
•Be familiar with different program execution regimes
•Identify the phases of code production
•Understand and apply good coding techniques

Basic programming skills are a fundamental requirement for many IT professionals. An entry-level programmer can have difficulty with jargon, and knowing where to start. Learning language syntax can be an uphill struggle when it cannot be put into context.

As scripting languages become more powerful and available traditional tasks of a programmer are invading other IT functions. System administrators may have to write complex scripts which impact on mission critical systems, often with no programming experience or training.

Support staff often have to communicate with development staff, and misunderstandings easily arise from cultural differences.

This course gives a basic understanding of how computer systems work from a programmer's perspective, and how to use this knowledge to produce good code. It also enables technical staff who are not programmers to gain a perspective of software development.