How to Give Instructions to a Computer
Let's write some code to instruct the computer to perform simple calculations and print the results :)
const a = 1;
const b = 2;
const c = 3;
console.log((a + c) * b);
const is a keyword that defines constants which do not change during the execution of the program. For instance,
const a = 1 assigns the value 1 to the constant a.
A keyword is a special term reserved by JavaScript that can't be used as an identifier by programmers while coding. The = is the assignment operator that sets a value to a constant.
Meaning of =
In programming, the = operator is used to assign a value rather than to convey equality as in mathematics.
Similarly, we assign the value 2 to the constant b, and 3 to the constant c.
Meaning of the Multiplication Operator *
In (a + c) * b, the asterisk (*) represents multiplication. In case you're wondering, division in most programming languages is represented by the slash (/).
So, the sum of a and c which is (a + c) is multiplied by b. The result, which is 4 * 2 = 8, is then passed to console.log.
Printing the Result
console.log is a function that outputs the value passed inside its parentheses (()). Without console.log, the result of (a + c) * b would not be displayed on the screen.
Simple, right?
That's how we can use JavaScript to instruct the computer to perform simple calculations and output the results!
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