52 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
52 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: A better Hello World
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tags: [Software Development]
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style: fill
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color: dark
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description: A different “hello world” to demonstrate language features better.
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---
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Source: [RICO STA. CRUZ](https://ricostacruz.com/til/a-better-hello-world)
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The “Hello world” program is usually the first introduction to any programming language. It looks like this in the C programming language:
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```c
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/* hello.c */
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#import <stdio.h>
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int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
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printf("Hello, world!");
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return 0;
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}
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```
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It demonstrates the minimum amount you need to write a C program. In more modern languages however, this example isn’t as useful anymore. Here’s the same example in Python:
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```python
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# hello.py
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print "Hello, world!"
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```
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## A better hello world
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In today’s world of more succint programming languages, we need a different “hello world” to demonstrate language features better. Here’s what I propose:
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```
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// hello.js
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function getGreeting (name) {
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return `Hello, ${name}!`
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}
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const message = getGreeting('world')
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console.log(message)
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```
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This simple example demonstrates a few more things than printing strings:
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- How to write a function with an argument
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- Returning values from functions
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- How to use variables
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- The naming convention for functions (camelCase versus snake_case)
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- String concatenation
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- Comments |