Data storage is the use electromagnetic or optical media to save digital information to be used in ongoing or future operations. This could include files on a computer hard drive or backup devices, such as tapes or Edison cylinders (see photo). These files are often stored as backups to help in disaster recovery and also to facilitate easy restoration after a system crash or cyberattack.
Coding is the method of writing instructions for computers and other machines to do the task. Coding is performed with various “programming languages” that are inspired by human language. The code is translated into machine code, which are a sequence of ones and zeroes often referred to as binary numbers. The people who write the instructions that run the computer are called coders or programmers.
It is rare to find an industry or business that does not employ programming or coding in any way. Coding is an essential skill for almost every job, and is an integral element of our lives today. It is a fast-growing field that is one of the most sought-after skills around the globe.
If you’re interested in learning to code, you should begin with an editor that works with text, such as Notepad++, Sublime Text, VS Code or Emacs. These editors offer a wide variety of features that assist beginners to begin learning to code such as color coding, auto-complete search and replace, dark mode and many more. It’s also recommended to learn the terminal (or console) which is the user interface for text on your operating systems. This allows you to perform tasks more quickly than using the standard GUI.
