To provide (a machine) with a set of coded working instructions.
Call me strange, but I don't think this is what programming is. Well, yes it is that, but it is not just that.
Programming is asking a computer to perform a certain task that you have written from instructions. The keyword there is "asking". No matter what you do, the computer doesn't listen to you. Will it perform tasks if you ask it? Most likely. Why that answer? Because there is always a case where the computer won't respond in a way you expected it to. Some internal library with a function may not perform the way you thought it would. Heck, the actual hardware may respond differently.
Yeah, I'll tell someone when explaining something that I am telling the computer/cRIO to do something, but in reality - all I'm doing is asking it to. Will it pitch a fit if it doesn't want to? You bet.
What's my point of this? I don't really know. Make it what you wish, but I guess what it is that programming is something not to get frustrated over. I don't know. Just keep it in mind.
-Tanner