# Tech Tuesday: Control Structures

By [Continuations](https://continuations.com) · 2012-07-10

tech tuesday, programming, control structures

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Last time in the [Tech Tuesday](http://continuations.com/tagged/tech_tuesday) cycle on [programming](http://continuations.com/post/21265111368/tech-tuesday-programming-overview) we saw that [so-called reserved words](http://continuations.com/post/25938201509/tech-tuesday-reserved-words) have special meaning.  They effectively constitute the built-in vocabulary of a programming language.  Now let’s go all the way back to the basic analogy that I used for the [overview post](http://continuations.com/post/21265111368/tech-tuesday-programming-overview): programming is telling a computer what to do, which is very much like telling a person what to do.  

One of the expressive abilities that is required for that are conditionals, as in: if the front door is locked, then go around the house to the back door. In other words, some of the instructions apply only if a certain condition is encountered.  All programming languages have some notion of a conditional statement.  For instance, in Javascript we can say

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*Originally published on [Continuations](https://continuations.com/tech-tuesday-control-structures)*