This book's theme is string programming. In it, you'll find a wide variety of programming examples, demonstrating everything from simple subroutines and functions to complete applications. You'll find little fluff and stuff around the code, other than comment lines, as this is the best way to get right to the core of the code.
Feel free to add the fluffy stuff as you wish to create the look and feel of your (programming) dreams. Where appropriate, more than one way to accomplish a programming task is presented, so you can grasp the options and become aware of just how many creative, fun ways there are to create code in this powerful language.
The absolute best way to really soak up programming concepts is to actually work with them. Therefore, at the end of each coding example or application there's a section titled Fun Challenges. The intent of this section is to encourage the reader to have some fun experimenting. Some of the challenges are easy, some are very challenging, but hopefully all are fun.
Feel free to give them a try, and to invent your own challenges too. There's a perfect metaphor in bicycle riding. You can go to classes, watch videos, listen to lectures, study the theory and physics involved, and on and on, but until you actually get on a bicycle and ride, your brain won't completely get it. Same with programming!
Feel free to add the fluffy stuff as you wish to create the look and feel of your (programming) dreams. Where appropriate, more than one way to accomplish a programming task is presented, so you can grasp the options and become aware of just how many creative, fun ways there are to create code in this powerful language.
The absolute best way to really soak up programming concepts is to actually work with them. Therefore, at the end of each coding example or application there's a section titled Fun Challenges. The intent of this section is to encourage the reader to have some fun experimenting. Some of the challenges are easy, some are very challenging, but hopefully all are fun.
Feel free to give them a try, and to invent your own challenges too. There's a perfect metaphor in bicycle riding. You can go to classes, watch videos, listen to lectures, study the theory and physics involved, and on and on, but until you actually get on a bicycle and ride, your brain won't completely get it. Same with programming!
