Professional computer programmers are also called software-engineers, or software developers. The profession has been in existence & increasing for as long as computer systems themselves have. With no software application, more or less all 'electronics' would just be dumb containers which didn't actually do anything. Virtually every item of technological hardware in existence incorporates a program running it. We don't always think about them as programs but that's essentially what they are - even a DVD-player contains an operating-system that allows it to function effectively. Software is almost everywhere - its what allows you to setup the recording of a programme on your TV set, and what's driving the navigation menu on the DVD you are watching. As you press 'play' on your DVD or Blu-ray player & sit down to watch a movie, a bit of software pulls the binary-code from the disc and converts it into actual video information in no time at all.

Systems-programmers work in low-level languages like C, though modern day C is a far cry from where it started - and its really a lot more user-friendly now. Programmers working on applications use higher-level 'languages', of which there are a great deal. Every one has its own particular list of rules and commands, and many are suited to certain tasks above others. Company database-software, for example, is commonly written in languages that suit that particular environment, whilst video games are usually written in low-level languages like 'C' - because they have to run as quickly as possible. When you are writing a database application, it is irrelevant if your display re-draws in one tenth of a second or a hundredth of a second, while with video games, it matters a whole lot. The actual emphasis for a database-friendly 'language' is that it can provide capabilities that help to make the job easier for the end user. Stripping things away so that it can operate more quickly would be counter productive. It's a bit like the difference between the family estate car & a racing-car. The estate car is more relaxing and affordable, but the trade-off is handling & speed. For the family on a long trip though, comfort, warmth and a smooth ride are far more important.

MS updated their foremost accreditation tracks a number of years ago, with a shift from the previous Microsoft Certified Application/Solutions Developer ('MCAD'/'MCSD') to the present-day 'Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist' ('MCTS') & 'Microsoft Certified Professional Developer' (MCPD) examinations. Before you can take on the complete 'MCPD' exam, you need to complete 2 MCTS programs first of all. Don't be fooled because Microsoft call their very first unit a 'foundation' module. If you are new at all to programming, give some thought to doing a programming introductory module first. It is best to also get a really good knowledge of software-environments & software support before any of it, so give some thought to starting your studies by doing a support-program. This will in addition help out with getting your very first job within the IT sector. It is best to generally calculate for your studies to take a year to a year and a half if you are entering a complete career-track studying part time. The actual level of training time is six to seven hundred hours on average.

A number of factors make it generally recognised that C is the most useful language for the commercial-programming trainee to start off with. It's not only really disciplined, it is also the base point for a number of other more up to date programming-languages. As a result once you've learned 'C', getting to grips with other languages will be more straightforward. MS supports C very seriously - it is the main systems language, and is one of the main languages in both MS Visual Studio and its range of certifications. Considering such a great range of professional accreditation, and such obvious endorsement by MS, any programming student would be foolhardy to dismiss the merits of mastering 'C'. As a matter of interest, 'C' began life during the 60's (it wasn't called C till the seventies however.) The transition to 'object-oriented' C++ (in other words the program isn't merely a single, linear string of activities - it can be several objects interacting with each other) was completed during the eighties. When we moved into the new millennium, the .'.Net' enabled release was released. This later came to be referred to as 'C#', and is the adaptation we use today. '.NET' was obviously a big advancement, as Windows software-writers could now gain access to pre written programs that did a lot of the basic tasks on their behalf.

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