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How vs. Why

In the world of programming students, there are "how" students and "why" students.

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"How" students just want to know what is required to get things done. When learning Java, I find this approach best. I will inform you where to put the code, and then run it. You will do it, and hopefully it will work. I will ask you to ignore a bunch of stuff that you will learn about later, and you will trust me on that. 

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"Why" students want to know the background behind each line of code. "Why do we have to have 'public static void?'" etc. These types of students can struggle with introductory programming languages - especially Java. "Why?" is a very important question, but the timing of asking it is equally important. In some languages the syntax and function of the coding is self-evident and the "why" is relatively obvious. This is not always the case in Java!​

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So this is a message to you "why" students - put that question on hold for now. As you create more programs, the why's will be answered. It's kind of like learning guitar. No one asks "why" a "D" chord is shaped like that - they just do it. Later in music theory, you will see the triads that are in the scales that make different voicings of chords, but for now, just put these fingers on these strings....

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