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Lecture 1

This document discusses computers and computer languages. It explains that computers work by storing and manipulating numbers very quickly and accurately. A computer program is a sequence of processor instructions that achieves a specific purpose. There are many computer languages created for human convenience that get converted to the machine language that computers understand. Different languages meet different needs with tradeoffs in control, ease-of-use, performance, and flexibility.

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shuvroo khan
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
15 views

Lecture 1

This document discusses computers and computer languages. It explains that computers work by storing and manipulating numbers very quickly and accurately. A computer program is a sequence of processor instructions that achieves a specific purpose. There are many computer languages created for human convenience that get converted to the machine language that computers understand. Different languages meet different needs with tradeoffs in control, ease-of-use, performance, and flexibility.

Uploaded by

shuvroo khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture #1: Computers and computer languages

• Discussion section
– J11-406, Friday. 16:00-17:40

understanding computers
• Understanding programming requires that you understand computers
• How does a computer work?
– Idiot savant

– Very good with a small number of tasks

– Completely clueless otherwise


what can computers do well?
• Store and retrieve numbers
– very quickly

– very accurately

• Add, subtract, multiply, and divide


– also fast and accurate

• Compare numbers (with 0)


• Follow a list of instructions
– jump around in the list
that’s about it
• What about everything else?
– more complex math
• combination of atomic operations
– interaction with peripheral devices
• output: graphics cards and printers
• input: keyboards, mice, joysticks
• all sorts of specialized devices
– everything done using numbers
computer numbers
• To the computer, everything is numbers.
• Computers use binary (base 2)
– each digit is 0 or 1

– represents a power of 2
human numbers
• You are familiar with decimal (base 10)
dn dn-1 dn-2 … d2 d1 d0
dn10n + dn-1  10n-1 + dn-2  10n-2… d2  102 + d1  101 + d0  100
38649
3104 + 8  103 + 6  102 + 4  101 + 9  100
binary
bn bn-1 bn-2 … b2 b1 b0
bn2n + bn-1  2n-1 + bn-2  2n-2… b2  22 + b1  21 + b0  20

• Example:
10110110
127 + 0 26 + 1 25 + 1 24 + 0 23 + 1 22 + 1 21 + 0 20
1128 + 0 64 + 1 32 + 1 16 + 0 8 + 1 4 + 1 2 + 0 1
128 + 32 + 16 + 4 + 2
182
teminology
• bit: binary digit
• byte: a group of 8 bits
• nybble (obsolete): half a byte
• word: a group of bytes that a specific computer is optimized for working with (usually
4 or 8)
• kilobyte (K or KB): 1,000 bytes, or sometimes 1,024 bytes (210)
• megabyte (M or MB): 1,000,000 bytes, or sometimes 1,048,576 bytes (220), 1,024K
bytes
why all these powers of 2?
• Everything is little electronic switches
– off or on

– true or false

– yin or yang(阴或阳)

– 0 or 1

• Decimal is foreign to the computer


– it can convert a number to decimal, but that’s really only for human convenience

• The computer works in base 2


other numbering systems
• octal – base 8
– used rarely, but you should at least recognize it

– digits are 0 through 7

on on-1 on-2 … o2 o1 o0
on8n + on-1  8n-1 + on-2  8n-2… o2  82 + o1  81 + o0  80

3264
3  83 + 2  82 + 6  81 + 4  80
3 512 + 2  64 + 6  8 + 4
1536 + 128 + 48 + 4 = 1716
other numbering systems
• hexadecimal – base 16
– used occasionally – you can’t really avoid it

– digits are 0-9, a-f


–hn hn-1 hn-2 … h2 h1 h0
–
hn16n + hn-1  16n-1 + hn-2  16n-2… h2  162 + h1  161 + h0  160

8b7e
8  163 + 11  162 + 7  161 + 14  160
8 4096 + 11  256 + 7  16 + 14
32768 + 2816 + 112 + 14 = 35710
other numbering systems
• You do not have to be fluent in either of these (octal or hex) for this class
– recognize them

– don’t be scared of them

– know how to convert if you need to


• but you will rarely need to
byte
• A group of bits
– almost always 8

– some strange computers may have other byte size

– but they’re not an issue for this class

• The fundamental unit of data for the computer


• Can represent 256 values
– 0 to 255

– -128 to 127
word
• Also fundamental to the computer
• A group of bytes
– usually 4 or 8

– for the computers we’ll work with, it’s 4

• 4 bytes
– 32 bits

– 0 to 4,294,967,295

– or more usually, –2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647


inside the computer…
• Everything is bits
• Bits are always grouped
– into bytes

– into words

• Every byte is numbered


– sequentially

– called an address

– addresses are, of course, numbers themselves


computer instructions
• Computers execute instructions
• Instructions are numbers
– memory access (get/put)

– arithmetic (add, subtract, multiply, divide)

– compare values (equal, greater than, less than)

– change the order instructions are executed in


• often based on the result of a comparison
what kinds of numbers do computers work with?
• Instructions
• Addresses
• Data
– integers

– real numbers

– text

– all sorts of other things


what is a computer program?
A sequence of processor instructions designed to achieve a specific purpose

• Computers execute programs sequentially


• Unlike, say, a shopping list
• More like driving directions
– each instruction depends on the last one being completed
what is a computer program?
A sequence of processor instructions designed to achieve a specific purpose

• Each instruction has a numerical code


• Examples:
– Get some data from memory

– Add two numbers

– If two numbers are equal, jump to a different part of the program

• To us, it all just looks like numbers


what is a computer program?
A sequence of processor instructions designed to achieve a specific purpose

• This is important!
• Instructions are numbers
• Random numbers can be executed
– but will not be a program

00401040 55 8B EC 83 EC 5C 53 56 57 6A 00 FF 15 B8 C2 42
00401050 00 89 45 FC 83 7D FC 00 7D 1B 68 0F 10 40 00 68
00401060 14 61 42 00 B9 E8 99 42 00 E8 32 05 00 00 8B C8
00401070 E8 90 FF FF FF 8D 45 EC 50 8B 0D 50 8D 42 00 51
00401080 FF 15 C0 C2 42 00 89 45 FC 83 7D FC 00 7D 20 68
00401090 0F 10 40 00 68 F8 60 42 00 B9 E8 99 42 00 E8 FD
004010A0 04 00 00 8B C8 E8 5B FF FF FF E9 9C 00 00 00 68
004010B0 0F 10 40 00 68 D8 60 42 00 B9 E8 99 42 00 E8 DD
004010C0 04 00 00 8B C8 E8 3B FF FF FF 8D 55 E4 52 68 28
004010D0 71 42 00 6A 01 6A 00 68 18 71 42 00 FF 15 C4 C2
004010E0 42 00 89 45 FC 83 7D FC 00 7C 1D 68 0F 10 40 00
004010F0 68 B4 60 42 00 B9 E8 99 42 00 E8 A1 04 00 00 8B
00401100 C8 E8 FF FE FF FF EB 43 8B 45 FC 50 68 88 60 42
00401110 00 E8 6A 25 00 00 83 C4 08 68 0F 10 40 00 68 84
00401120 60 42 00 8B 4D FC 51 68 60 60 42 00 B9 E8 99 42
00401130 00 E8 6A 04 00 00 8B C8 E8 33 01 00 00 8B C8 E8
00401140 5C 04 00 00 8B C8 E8 BA FE FF FF FF 15 BC C2 42

00401040 push ebp


00401041 mov ebp,esp
00401043 sub esp,5Ch
00401046 push ebx
00401047 push esi
00401048 push edi
00401049 push 0
0040104B call dword ptr [__imp__CoInitialize@4 (0042c2b8)]
00401051 mov dword ptr [ebp-4],eax
00401054 cmp dword ptr [ebp-4],0
00401058 jge main+35h (00401075)
0040105A push offset @ILT+10(endl) (0040100f)
0040105F push offset string "CoInitialize failed." (00426114)
00401064 mov ecx,offset cout (004299e8)
00401069 call ostream::operator<< (004015a0)
0040106E mov ecx,eax
00401070 call @ILT+0(ostream::operator<<) (00401005)
00401075 lea eax,[ebp-14h]
00401078 push eax
00401079 mov ecx,dword ptr [pid (00428d50)]
0040107F push ecx
00401080 call dword ptr [__imp__CLSIDFromProgID@8 (0042c2c0)]
00401086 mov dword ptr [ebp-4],eax
00401089 cmp dword ptr [ebp-4],0
0040108D jge main+6Fh (004010af)
0040108F push offset @ILT+10(endl) (0040100f)
00401094 push offset string "CLSIDFromProgID failed." (004260f8)
00401099 mov ecx,offset cout (004299e8)
0040109E call ostream::operator<< (004015a0)
004010A3 mov ecx,eax
004010A5 call @ILT+0(ostream::operator<<) (00401005)
004010AA jmp main+10Bh (0040114b)
004010AF push offset @ILT+10(endl) (0040100f)
004010B4 push offset string "CLSIDFromProgID succeeded." (004260d8)
machine language
• The one “true” computer language
– …except there isn’t just one

– Every computer has its own machine language

• All other computer languages created for human convenience


– The computer doesn’t understand C

– Must be converted into machine language


computer languages
• Assembler
– essentially just machine language with some text codes

• Compiled languages
– converted into machine language before use

– examples: C, Pascal, Fortran

• Interpreted languages
– converted into machine language during use

– examples: Basic, Java


why more than one?
• Meet different needs
• Tradeoffs
• Different approaches
• Special features
meet different needs
• Application domain
– programmer prefers to think about the application

• Computer domain
– programmer is willing to think about the computer
tradeoffs
• Control
• Ease-of-programming
• Performance
• Flexibility
different approaches
• Procedural
• Object-oriented

special features
• There are lots of special-purpose languages
– video games

– robots

– artifical intelligence

– embedded systems

– etc.

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