Computer programming

- is one of the fields in the IT industry that accounts largely to whatever we are enjoying right now
- is actually an act of writing computer programs
- is also called program coding.

computer programs

- are a sequence of instructions written using a computer programming language to perform a specified task
by the computer (the sequence of instructions is actually written by human)
- also called a computer software, which can range from two lines to millions of lines of instructions.

Uses of Computer Programs

- Today computer programs are being used in almost every field, household, agriculture, medical,
entertainment, communication, etc.
- Computer programs are being used to develop graphics and special effects in movie making.
- Computer programs are being used to perform Ultrasounds, X-Rays, and other medical examinations.
- Computer programs are being used in our mobile phones for SMS, Chat, and voice communication.
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Listed below are a few applications of computer programs:

• MS Word, MS Excel, Adobe Photoshop, Internet Explorer, Chrome, etc., are examples of computer programs.

THE PROGRAMMING CYCLE

These five steps are generally performed in sequence.

1. DEFINING THE PROBLEM Problem definition makes sure of what has to be done or what has to be solved. The
programmer must know exactly what the program is supposed to do before it is written. All aspects of the program that
need clarification should be thoroughly examined during this stage of program development. Defining the problem first,
will make a clear vision on what you as a programmer wants your computer program to perform and how accurate the
output it will produce. This involves the process of determining the purpose of your project and the identification of
related problems that might encounter.

2. PLANNING THE SOLUTION After the problem has been defined, the next step is to select the best method for solving
it. This commonly involves determining the sequence of processing steps within individual programs. To plan the
processing steps in the program, programmers construct a flowchart to lay out the program logic. A flowchart is called as
the blueprint of the program. Next, selecting the appropriate programming language is the final step of program
planning. The language to be used depends on the availability of programmers who know a certain language or the type
of compiler available in the computer to be used.

3. CODING THE SOLUTION Once the programmer is satisfied that all processing steps have been identified and all
alternatives and exceptions provided for, the creation of program is next. It is where the series of instruction is being
written by the programmer using a certain programming language. In the coding phase, the programmer converts the
steps represented in the program flowchart into readable instructions that make up the actual program. Coding can be
written at different levels, ranging from machine language to high-level programming languages. Today, most of the
programming languages are under high-level programming languages.
4. CHECKING OUT THE PROGRAM Once the program has been made, it is now time to check and run the program. As
computer programs become increasingly complex, more and more of the programmer’s time is spent in program
checkout, debugging and testing each new or modified program. Debugging is the task of finding program errors called
bugs, and correcting them so that the program runs correctly. Testing consists of running the program with input data
that simulates, or is a representative sample of, the actual data that will be processed by the program.

Errors in programming may be either of two types:

- Clerical errors. These are errors that occur in the coding or data entry process.

- Logical errors. These are errors that occur because the programmer does not thoroughly understand a phase of the
problem to be solved. Both clerical and logical errors must be detected and eliminated from the program before it can be
used effectively.

5. DOCUMENTATION After a program has been fully tested and implemented, the programmer must write the full
specifications for all users.

The technical documentation package should include the following:

1. complete statement of the problem

2. description of the program logic and copies of the flowcharts

3. final source listing

4. list and description of error tests along with the disposition of these errors

5. operating instructions, including program and data structures, and test data used

6. input and output specifications

7. schedules to be maintained
Programming Language
- is a way for programmers (developers) to communicate with computers.
- consist of a set of rules that allows string values to be converted into various
ways of generating machine code, or, in the case of visual programming
languages, graphical elements.
CATEGORIES OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

1. MACHINE LANGUAGES

- is the only language that computers can understand. It consists of binary notations, which is a series of 0’s and
1’s. With earlier computers, programs were all written in machine language and writing instructions in binary
notation is time-consuming and very impractical. With the present generation of computers, programs are now
written in special programming languages. These programs, however, must still be translated into the machine
language of the computer before the program can be executed.

2. SYMBOLIC LANGUAGES

- Because of the difficulties encountered in writing and testing a machine language program, several symbolic
programming languages have been developed. Symbolic languages permit the programmer to use convenient
symbols, or mnemonics when writing a program. Mnemonic command codes and symbolic addresses were
developed in the early 1950’s. Each computer has a mnemonic code, although the actual symbols vary among
kinds and models. Machine language is still used by the computer in the actual processing of data, but it first
translates the specified command code symbol into its machine language equivalent. Symbolic languages are
machine oriented since these languages are designed only for the specific kind and model of processor being
used. A type of symbolic language is the assembler language. It is a language which is closely resembles machine
 language. Each assembler language instruction is translated into one machine language instruction. There is a
one-to-one correspondence between assembler language instructions and machine language instructions.

3. HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGES

- High-level language statements closely resemble English language statements. These languages are often
oriented toward a particular class of processing problems. Some of these languages have been designed to
process problems of a scientific or engineering nature, and others have appeared that emphasize the processing
of business 5 applications. Unlike symbolic programs, high-level language programs may be used with different
makes of computers with little modification. High-level languages are also called the compiler languages, since it
requires a special program called a compiler. A compiler translates programs written in a particular language into
machine language. The original program written in the high-level language is called the source program, and its
translation in machine language is called object program.

COMMONLY USED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

BASIC.

- The BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) language was originally created in the 1960’s by
John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz for use with the computer system at Dartmouth College. It was intended to be
an easy-to-learn programming language that students could use to solve simple problems in different subject
areas. BASIC is an interactive language, where the program is compiled instruction by instruction as it is read into
the computer and where the compiler has various editing features that allow the program to be modified as it is
inputted. Thus, programmer can directly interact with the computer via a keyboard terminal. He can quickly
enter a program, correct it, and obtain partial results of a program.

COBOL.

- COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) is a business language that can be run on any computer makes
and modules. It was introduced in 1959 by a committee of representatives from business and the US Federal
government to satisfy normal business needs. It was designed primarily for writing business programs with a
minimum of time and effort. It can be used to process alphanumeric data. The important advantages of COBOL
are that it employs the vocabulary of the business world and that it tends to be self-documenting.

FORTRAN.

- FORTRAN is an abbreviation for Formula Translator. It is the oldest high-level programming language which was
developed in 1957 by IBM to simplify statistical, scientific and engineering calculations. The language includes
features for determining logarithms and trigonometric functions. This language consists largely of mathematical
notation. It is a more effective language when dealing with scientific or business-oriented problems that include
complex calculating routines with relatively simplified input and output.

PASCAL.

- The Pascal language was devised by Niklaus Wirth between 1968 and 1971. Pascal was named for the
mathematician and inventor Blaise Pascal, who developed one of the earliest calculating machines. The Pascal
language is considered to have a great deal of potential for computer users because it facilitates the use of
structured programming techniques. This technique is designed to standardize programming and make
debugging easier.

PL/1.

- PL/1, an abbreviation for Programming language/1, is a high-level language that is designed to meet the needs of
both scientific and commercial computer users. It was designed to combine the major advantages and features
 of COBOL and FORTRAN so that a user can employ it both for scientific and commercial problems. The basic
element of PL/1 program is the statement. Statements are combined into larger elements called groups and
blocks. The blocks may be either “begin blocks” or “procedures”. They can be included in or called by other
blocks to form a complete PL/1 program.

RPG.

- Report Program Generator is a symbolic language ideally suited for creating printed reports from input media. A
minimum programming effort is required with RPG, that is, it is a very simple language.

APL.

- A Programming Language designed by Kenneth E. Iverson at Harvard University in the early 1960’s. It was
designed to permit users to specify complex algorithms and logical expressions. APL’s simple syntax makes it
especially well-suited to calculations involving series and tables.
- APL data is either numeric or character. A significant feature of the language is that variables are not declared to
be either of these types. Any variable may be assigned data of either type during program execution; its current
content determines its type. The primary data structure is the array, and a powerful set of operators is available
for manipulating arrays.
- There are hundreds of programming languages, which can be used to write computer programs and following,
are a few of them – Java, C, C++, PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby and more.

Computer Programmer

- Someone who can write computer programs or in other words, someone who can do computer
programming is called a Computer Programmer.