Instructions Must Be Written in A Way That A Computer Could Understand. Many Programs + Data Software
Instructions Must Be Written in A Way That A Computer Could Understand. Many Programs + Data Software
To write a computer program you need a software program for the programming language you will be
using.
Programming: a series of instructions that directs a computer to perform tasks. (to solve problems)
Instructions must be written in a way that a computer could understand.
Programming language: a set of words, abbreviations, and symbols that allows a programmer to
communicate instructions to a computer.
Types of language:
Bit: the smallest element that can be represented in computer. Binary digits of 0 and 1.
Byte: a sequence of 8 bits. Used to represent a character (alphabet, number or special character), using
encoding scheme such as ASCII, EBCDIC or Unicode.
Machine language is the first generation of programming language, (1940s During the war)
The instructions use a series of binary digits (1s and 0s)
- difficult to remember the code for various operation.
- lengthy, error prone (due to carelessness, using numbers) (lots of numbers to perform one task)
Assembly Language, uses instruction in the form of mnemonic. (easy to remember) (uses symbolic
codes)
- But need to be translated first using a program called assembler into machine language.
High level language: uses closer to English like sentences. (eg: BASIC, Java)
BUT, the computer cannot directly execute instructions written in high level language. (it doesnt
understand) Compiler is used to translate HLL into machine language.