A program is a set of instructions that when executed will perform

a specific task on a computer.  Programs written in the JAVA

language take the for of either an Applet or an Application.

Applets run inside of a browser window whereas Applications

normally run stand alone on a specific computer.

A programmer creates Variables that will stand for certain things

in his or her program. These Variables will take on values during the 

course of the program executing. The programmer supplies commands

in the program that symbolically manipulate or plays  with the variables.

This manipulation is in the form of inputting values, doing arithmetic,

making comparisons, or outputting results. The JAVA  commands

used to perform these tasks plays with the Variables but in reality

the VALUES in the variables are what is really being played with.

So in essence, programmers must be able to envision ahead of time

how a problem is to be solved. Use Variables along with the JAVA

commands in some kind of a order that will accomplish the desired 

task.  REMEMBER that the Variables will take on Values once the

program starts to execute. 

Using Variables and JAVA commands is very easy.  The hard part

is  writing  down the commands in the right order to solve the problem. 

Being able to reason in an abstract manner is very important.  You have

to be able to visualize the tasks involved in your head before you can

attempt to put then down on paper in the form of a program.  Over the

years techniques have been developed to assist students in this task.

Projects are  broken down into many small  tasks ( instead of one big

task ) so that they can be dealt with more effectively.  

                                      ---   to be continued  ---