Layman's Guide to Computing

A command line is a way of giving commands to the computer in the form of text. An instruction consists of the name of the program to be run, and the options that it needs to use. Command lines provide a fallback mechanism when graphical interfaces break down, and are a much more remote-friendly interface.

Everybody has a simpleton in their pocket, and maybe one at home on the desk. These simpletons are able to run sets of instructions that they are carrying. You can give them more sets of instructions, often obtained through a Store. Some of the really good instruction sets will cost some money, though. And almost none of them will get the simpleton to do exactly what you want.

Libraries make it easier to do the same thing in a programming language, or enable advanced functionality that wasn’t available previously. Libraries are usually specific to a particular programming language, and can’t be used in another programming language.

While libraries make it easier to do the same thing in a programming language, a framework makes it easier to make a particular kind of app. Like libraries, frameworks are usually specific to a particular programming language, and can’t be used in another programming language.

A version control system (VCS) tracks changes to documents. Git is a version control system for source code. Keeping a change history enables a VCS to roll back code in a previous point in time. A change history can also be used in areas other than coding.

Testing is the only way to know your app really works. Tests can be set up for the different parts of your app, from the basic building blocks to the main code and finally even the interface, including web pages.

n git, forking a repository creates a copy of it for you to work on. Merging a repository with the original combines the commits from both so that they become one repository again. Conflicts arising from commits from both codepaths that affect the same part of the code will need to be resolved manually. Developers do most of this forking and merging in Github, an online platform for working on and talking about code.

Continuous Integration means merging changes back to the main branch as often as possible. This means keeping code changes as small as possible, and using automated testing to speed up the development process.

Specifications describe the details of how a piece of hardware/software should work in order to meet a set of requirements. When well written and well implemented, they aid the coordination of the multitude of devices across the world, enabling them to communicate seamlessly, unambiguously, and unnoticeably with each other. Your devices work because they follow specifications.

A bug tracker, or issue tracker, is where users can submit problems they encounter with the software. To submit a helpful issue, users should understand the project’s philosophy and purpose, and read the contributing guidelines.

A text editor helps programmers to edit their code. An IDE (integrated development environment) helps programmers to see what’s going on in their code, test their code’s performance, and provide almost all the necessary tools in one package.

A developer can simply put up a download on a webpage and hope people download it and figure out how to get the app on their devices. But often, the more popular way is to publish the app to a repository (also known as an app store, for mobile devices). Before this can be done, the code or application needs to be packaged according to the requirements of the repository.