Definitions Are Important (really) Some time ago, I got myself wanting to read economics books. I remember that I picked up "The Constituition of Liberty" by Friedrich Hayek—worry not, your death by boredom or scientific jargon overflow is beyond the scope of this post. One of the things that really stuck with me was on the very first pages, where Hayek identifies a harmful problem surrounding the subject matter of the book: most people have no concrete grasp of what "liberty" means . He spent roughly 10 pages of his book setting up what he meant by the term and comparing his definition with the many others that are out there. "And why is this important?" Everyone has seen this before: two people seemingly arguing about the same subject, but in reality, their perceptions of it are so dissimilar that the entire conversation is pointless. Definitions are crucial because, without a shared understanding of the meaning of the terms we employ, communic
What is Programming? "Programming" has been around for nearly a century and a half, not a few years, and it has become one of the key aspects of our everyday lives in the past two decades. So, what is it anyway? What's my current understanding of this? Let's define it and continue our journey from here. Programming is the process of writing, testing, and maintaining computer programs. Those who work with computer programs are called programmers . A computer program can be defined as a computational algorithm executed by a computer and designed to accomplish a specific goal . Defining " computational algorithm " First, let's build a brief understanding of what an algorithm is. An algorithm is any set of sequential, unambiguous, and precise instructions designed to accomplish a specific goal . For example, an oversimplified algorithm for posting on Instagram: 1 - Pick up your phone; 2 - Enter your password; 3 - Cl