Feel free to use for any BSA Programming Merit Badge Class

1. Programming
Merit Badge
By Nate Swedberg

2. History of Programming
A programming language is a way that humans
can communicate with computers. There are
many different types of programming
languages that are used today. Like real
languages they are constantly changing and
evolving.

3. The first computers
Charles Babbage
creates the
difference machine.

4. The first computers
The U.S government
built ENIAC

5. Von Neumann creates the fundamental concepts of
programming
1.Programs should not be hardwired, making
the computer architecture more simple
2.Programs should be able to branch logically
instead of being linear

6. Grace Hopper creates first compiler
The first
compiler A-0
turned
statements into
ones and zeros
which the
computer could
understand.

7. First generation of programming languages
Fortran: specialized in scientific computing
Cobol: specialized for business
Lisp: specialized for artificial intelligence

8. C is developed by Dennis Ritchie
Fixed most of the problems of Pascal
was built to be fast and powerful at the cost of
being hard to read

9. Object Oriented programming is created
Object Oriented programs are organized
around “objects” - structured chunks of data -
instead of focused on actions. The design
emphasis becomes less on logic and more on
data. Can help reduce “spaghetti code”
through the use of class inheritance.

10. Programming Languages
A programming language is a way that
humans can communicate with computers.
There are many different types of
programming languages that are used today.
Like real languages they are constantly
changing and evolving.

11. Java - The workhorse of programming languages
“C++ with all the knives, guns,
and clubs put away.”
Java is one of the most widely
used programming languages
and is used in server side
development due to its stability.
Used by industries such as
social media, financial
services, e commerce, and
insurance applications

12. Minecraft was programmed using Java

13. Python - simple zen like programming language
“Compile, run and ship your pseudo-
code.”
Python is used for:
scientific and numeric computing
Web and Internet Development
Teaching programming
Software Development
Desktop GUIs

14. C - The foundation for many other language
“Combines the power of assembly
language with the readability and
maintainability of assembly language.”
C is used for:
Computer applications
Embedded Softwares
Creating compilers
Unix Kernel

15. C++ - High performance programming language
“Enough rope to shoot yourself in the
foot.””
C++ is used for:
Software for large scale ecommerce
videogames
Adobe systems
CAD (Autodesk)
Most microsoft applications
Browsers (Firefox))

16. Hearthstone’s backend is written in C++

17. Objective-C - apple’s programming language
“All the memory safety of C combined
with all the blazing speed of
Smalltalk.”
Objective- C is used for:
Iphone apps
OS X
IOS

18. Haskell - the black magic of programming languages
“Avoid success at all costs”
Haskell is used for:
Aerospace and defence
Finance
Web startups
Hardware design firms

19. SQL - a specialized language to manage data
used for relational database
management systems

20. Lisp - an old distinguished programming language
Lisp is used for:
Jak and Daxter
“Artificial Intelligence” (Watson)
Web browsers
“To iterate is human; to recurse is
divine”

21. Javascript - necessary language for web development
“A vastly underrated language that
became a vastly overrated language.”
Javascript is used for:
video game development
interactive web functions

22. This security check was made using Javascript

23. Perl - the duct tape of the internet
“If you put a million monkeys at a
million keyboards, one of them will
eventually write a Java program. The
rest of them will write Perl programs.”
JPerl is used for:
Web automation
Database
Email handling
Text generation
System Administration

24. Intellectual Property
Intellectual property refers to the legal
ownership of what one thinks up. This could be
music you wrote, a movie you made or an
application that you programmed.

25. Software patents
Software patents allow programmers to
monetize their work by ensuring that their work
will not be copied without their permission.
Not everybody thinks this is a good idea.
Copyright law already prevents copying, and
patents can be awfully broad.

26. Licensing and owning software
Owning software is where you have every right
to do what you want with the software or code.
Licensing is where you can only do certain
things detailed in the license agreement

27. Open source vs Commercial vs Freeware
Open source: can be freely used, changed, and shared by
anyone. But still comes with a license that may dictate how
you can use it, especially if you change it.
Commercial: produced for sale and is usually protected
under a license agreement. Usually closed source.
Freeware: available at no cost but may have restrictions on
redistribution or on modification, often not open source.

28. Careers in Programming
Computer Programmer
Software Architect
Web Developer
Information Security Analyst
Computer Systems Administrator