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  <article class="lesson"><h1>Let's talk about programming</h1>
    <section class="page"><h1>It's all about instructions</h1>
      <p>When you get down to it, programming is all about <strong>algorithms</strong>. That's a big fancy word for 'a list of instructions.' Every program is simply a big to-do list of instructions for the computer to follow.</p>
      <p>You can turn almost anything into a list of instructions if you really think about it. Most of the time, you've got so much practice at doing things that you don't even think about these individual steps. You just do them. It's very natural.</p>
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    <section class="page"><h1>The computer is simple</h1>
      <p>Unfortunately, computers are actually quite simple. This may be contrary to everything you've ever heard, but it's the truth. Even though we compare computers to things like our brains, it's a really poor analogy. What computers are actually really good at is performing simple, boring things over and over again very accurately. They can't think for themselves!</p>
      <p>This is why computers appear to be complex. They blindly follow whatever orders they're given, without any thought about how those instructions are good or bad. It's hard to think in such simple terms!</p>
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    <section class="page"><h1>Explain yourself well</h1>
      <p>It's important to remember that you have to fully explain yourself to the computer when you're programming. It can't figure out what you're trying to say, so you have to say what you mean!</p>
      <p>This takes some practice, so we're going to start off with some exercises in explaining ourselves in very basic terms. It's almost like trying to explain math to a young child: you have to go slowly, triple check your work, and have some patience when it just doesn't quite get it.</p>
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