Programming Without Fear (10 min)

Let’s start with a fundamental truth: Programming is just giving detailed instructions to a computer.

Programming = Giving Detailed Instructions¶

The only difference: computers need very precise instructions and can’t fill in missing details like humans can.

Like Writing a Recipe or Assembly Instructions

Think about IKEA furniture instructions - they’re extremely detailed because they assume you know nothing. Programming is the same way!

NetLogo Uses English-like Commands¶

Unlike many programming languages, NetLogo reads almost like English:

• create-turtles 50 (create 50 turtles)
• forward 1 (move forward 1 step)
• set color red (change color to red)
• count neighbors (how many neighbors do I have?)

You can see most of the commands in the Figure 1.

Also, Netlogo provides a dictionary of commands in their website: NetLogo Dictionary.

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