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Chapter 1:
An Overview of Computers and
Programming Languages

Objectives
• In this chapter, you will:
– Learn about different types of computers
– Explore hardware and software
– Learn about the language of a computer
– Learn about the evolution of programming languages
– Examine high-level programming languages

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Objectives (cont’d.)
– Discover what a compiler is and what it does
– Examine a C++ program
– Explore how a C++ program is processed
– Learn what an algorithm is and explore problem-solving
techniques
– Become aware of structured design and object-oriented
design programming methodologies
– Become aware of Standard C++ and ANSI/ISO Standard
C++

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Introduction
• Without software, the computer is useless
• Software is developed with programming languages
– C++ is a programming language
• C++ suited for a wide variety of programming tasks

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A Brief Overview of the History of

Computers
• Early calculation devices
– Abacus, Pascaline
– Leibniz device
– Jacquard’s weaving looms
– Babbage machines: difference and analytic engines
– Hollerith machine

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A Brief Overview of the History of

Computers (cont’d.)
• Early computer-like machines
– Mark I
– ENIAC
– Von Neumann architecture
– UNIVAC
– Transistors and microprocessors

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A Brief Overview of the History of

Computers (cont’d.)
• Categories of computers
– Mainframe computers
– Midsize computers
– Micro computers (personal computers)

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Elements of a Computer System

• Hardware
• CPU
• Main memory
• Secondary storage
• Input/Output devices
• Software

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Hardware
• CPU
• Main memory: RAM
• Input/output devices
• Secondary storage

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Central Processing Unit and Main

Memory
• Central processing unit
– Brain of the computer
– Most expensive piece of hardware
– Carries out arithmetic and logical operations

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Central Processing Unit and Main

Memory (cont’d.)

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Central Processing Unit and Main

Memory (cont'd.)
• Random access memory
– Directly connected to the CPU
• All programs must be loaded into main memory
before they can be executed
• All data must be brought into main memory before it
can be manipulated
• When computer power is turned off, everything in
main memory is lost

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Central Processing Unit and Main

Memory (cont’d.)
• Main memory is an ordered sequence of memory
cells
– Each cell has a unique location in main memory, called the
address of the cell
• Each cell can contain either a programming
instruction or data

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Secondary Storage
• Secondary storage: device that stores information
permanently
• Examples of secondary storage:
– Hard disks
– Flash drives
– Floppy disks
– Zip disks
– CD-ROMs
– Tapes

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Input/Output Devices
• Input devices feed data and programs into
computers
– Keyboard
– Mouse
– Secondary storage
• Output devices
display results
– Monitor
– Printer
– Secondary storage

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Software
• Software: programs that do specific tasks
• System programs control the computer
– Operating system monitors the overall activity of the
computer and provides services such as:
• Memory management
• Input/output activities
• Storage management

• Application programs perform a specific task

– Word processors
– Spreadsheets
– Games

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The Language of a Computer

• Analog signals: continuous wave forms
• Digital signals: sequences of 0s and 1s
• Machine language: language of a computer; a
sequence of 0s and 1s
• Binary digit (bit): the digit 0 or 1
• Binary code (binary number): a sequence of 0s
and 1s

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The Language of a Computer (cont’d.)

• Byte:
– A sequence of eight bits
• Kilobyte (KB): 210 bytes = 1024 bytes
• ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange)
– 128 characters
– A is encoded as 1000001 (66th character)
– 3 is encoded as 0110011

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The Language of a Computer (cont’d.)

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The Language of a Computer (cont’d.)

• EBCDIC
– Used by IBM
– 256 characters
• Unicode
– 65536 characters
– Two bytes are needed to store a character

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The Evolution of Programming

Languages
• Early computers were programmed in machine
language
• To calculate wages = rate * hours in machine
language:
100100 010001 //Load
100110 010010 //Multiply
100010 010011 //Store

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The Evolution of Programming

Languages (cont’d.)
• Assembly language instructions are mnemonic
• Assembler: translates a program written in assembly
language into machine language

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The Evolution of Programming

Languages (cont’d.)
• Using assembly language instructions, wages =
rate • hours can be written as:
LOAD rate
MULT hour
STOR wages

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The Evolution of Programming

Languages (cont’d.)
• High-level languages include Basic, FORTRAN,
COBOL, Pascal, C, C++, C#, and Java
• Compiler: translates a program written in a high-level
language into machine language
• The equation wages = rate • hours can be
written in C++ as:
wages = rate * hours;

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Processing a C++ Program

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout << "My first C++ program." << endl;
return 0;
}

Sample Run:
My first C++ program.

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Processing a C++ Program (cont’d.)

• To execute a C++ program:
– Use an editor to create a source program in C++
– Preprocessor directives begin with # and are processed by
the preprocessor
– Use the compiler to:
• Check that the program obeys the language rules
• Translate into machine language (object program)

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Processing a C++ Program (cont’d.)

• To execute a C++ program (cont'd.):
– Linker:
• Combines object program with other programs provided by the
SDK to create executable code
• Library: contains prewritten code you can use
– Loader:
• Loads executable program into main memory
– The last step is to execute the program
• Some IDEs do all this with a Build or Rebuild
command

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Processing a C++ Program (cont’d.)

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Programming with the Problem

Analysis–Coding–Execution Cycle
• Algorithm:
– Step-by-step problem-solving
process
– Solution achieved in finite
amount of time
• Programming is a process of
problem solving

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The Problem Analysis–Coding–

Execution Cycle (cont’d.)
• Step 1: Analyze the problem
– Outline the problem and its requirements
– Design steps (algorithm) to solve the problem
• Step 2: Implement the algorithm
– Implement the algorithm in code
– Verify that the algorithm works
• Step 3: Maintenance
– Use and modify the program if the problem domain
changes

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The Problem Analysis–Coding–

Execution Cycle (cont’d.)
• Thoroughly understand the problem and all requirements
– Does program require user interaction?
– Does program manipulate data?
– What is the output?

• If the problem is complex, divide it into subproblems

– Analyze and design algorithms for each subproblem

• Check the correctness of algorithm

– Can test using sample data
– Some mathematical analysis might be required

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The Problem Analysis–Coding–

Execution Cycle (cont’d.)
• Once the algorithm is designed and correctness
verified
– Write the equivalent code in high-level language
• Enter the program using text editor

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The Problem Analysis–Coding–

Execution Cycle (cont’d.)
• Run code through compiler
• If compiler generates errors
– Look at code and remove errors
– Run code again through compiler
• If there are no syntax errors
– Compiler generates equivalent machine code
• Linker links machine code with system resources

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The Problem Analysis–Coding–

Execution Cycle (cont’d.)
• Once compiled and linked, loader can place program
into main memory for execution
• The final step is to execute the program
• Compiler guarantees that the program follows the
rules of the language
– Does not guarantee that the program will run correctly

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Example 1-1
• Design an algorithm to find the perimeter and area
of a rectangle
• The perimeter and area of the rectangle are given by
the following formulas:

perimeter = 2 * (length + width)

area = length * width

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Example 1-1 (cont’d.)

• Algorithm:
– Get length of the rectangle
– Get width of the rectangle
– Find the perimeter using the following equation:
perimeter = 2 * (length + width)
– Find the area using the following equation:
area = length * width

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Example 1-5
• Calculate each student’s grade
– 10 students in a class; each student has taken five tests;
each test is worth 100 points
• Design algorithms to:
– Calculate the grade for each student and class average
– Find the average test score
– Determine the grade
• Data: students’ names; test scores

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Example 1-5 (cont’d.)

• Algorithm to determine the average test score:
– Get the five test scores
– Add the five test scores
• Suppose sum stands for the sum of the test scores
– Suppose average stands for the average test score:
• average = sum / 5;

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Example 1-5 (cont’d.)

• Algorithm to determine the grade:
if average is greater than or equal to 90
grade = A
otherwise
if average is greater than or equal to 80 and less than 90
grade = B
otherwise
if average is greater than or equal to 70 and less than 80
grade = C
otherwise
if average is greater than or equal to 60 and less than 70
grade = D
otherwise
grade = F

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Example 1-5 (cont’d.)

• Main algorithm is as follows:
– totalAverage = 0;
– Repeat the following for each student:
• Get student’s name
• Use the algorithm to find the average test score
• Use the algorithm to find the grade
• Update totalAverage by adding current student’s average test
score
– Determine the class average as follows:
• classAverage = totalAverage / 10

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Programming Methodologies
• Two popular approaches to programming design
– Structured
– Object-oriented

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Structured Programming
• Structured design:
– Dividing a problem into smaller subproblems
• Structured programming:
– Implementing a structured design
• The structured design approach is also called:
– Top-down (or bottom-up) design
– Stepwise refinement
– Modular programming

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Object-Oriented Programming
• Object-oriented design (OOD)
– Identify components called objects
– Determine how objects interact with each other
• Specify relevant data and possible operations to be
performed on that data
• Each object consists of data and operations on that
data

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Object-Oriented Programming
(cont’d.)
• An object combines data and operations on the data
into a single unit
• A programming language that implements OOD is
called an object-oriented programming (OOP)
language
• Must learn how to represent data in computer
memory, how to manipulate data, and how to
implement operations

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Object-Oriented Programming
(cont’d.)
• Write algorithms and implement them in a
programming language
• Use functions to implement algorithms
• Learn how to combine data and operations on the
data into a single unit called an object
• C++ was designed to implement OOD
• OOD is used with structured design

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ANSI/ISO Standard C++

• C++ evolved from C
• C++ designed by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell
Laboratories in early 1980s
– Many different C++ compilers were available
• C++ programs were not always portable from one
compiler to another
• In mid-1998, ANSI/ISO C++ language standards were
approved

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Summary
• Computer: electronic device that can perform
arithmetic and logical operations
• Computer system has hardware/software
– Central processing unit (CPU): brain
– Primary storage (MM) is volatile; secondary storage (e.g.,
disk) is permanent
– Operating system monitors overall activity of the computer
and provides services
– Various kinds of languages

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Summary (cont’d.)
• Compiler: translates high-level language into
machine code
• Algorithm: step-by-step problem-solving process;
solution in finite amount of time
• Problem-solving process has three steps:
– Analyze problem and design an algorithm
– Implement the algorithm in code
– Maintain the program

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Summary (cont’d.)
• Structured design:
– Problem is divided into smaller subproblems
– Each subproblem is solved
– Combine solutions to all subproblems
• Object-oriented design (OOD): a program is a
collection of interacting objects
– Object: data and operations on those data

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