Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO
COMPUTER
PROGRAMS
 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

❑ Understand the concepts and importance of programs
and programming.
❑ Differentiate between program, compiler, interpreter and
assembler.
❑ Apply the steps in the program development life cycle.

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 Introduction

❑ Computers can be found anywhere from the size of a

desktop to smaller than the palm of one’s hand such as
desktop computers, notebooks, netbooks, tablet PCs
and mobile devices.
❑ Many kinds of applications or apps can be downloaded
into the tablet or smartphone.

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 Introduction (cont.)

❑ There are many ways to develop these applications.

– Some websites provide templates to create apps
quickly
– Users with programming knowledge can create their
apps from scratch.
❑ Examples of systems/apps developed using
programming language:
– Automated Teller Machine (ATM) systems,
– Student Information Systems
– Online Ticketing Systems

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 Overview of Computers
and History of
H
Programming Language
I
19th first general purpose computing device.
S Century
T
O 20th early analogue computers have been invented.
Century
R
Y 1936
• first freely programmable computers were developed.

O • electronic programmable computers using vacuum tubes and transistors have

1940s been created.
F
• commercial computers, computer games and programming languages were
C 1950-1960s developed.

O
M • mainframes and supercomputers were available.
1975
P
U • IBM introduced its personal computers
1981
T
E • The first personal computer with a graphical user interface was introduced
1983
R
S
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 Basic Operation of a Computer

❑ A computer is a device that can process data.

❑ Data consists of raw facts or unprocessed information.

Basic operation of a computer

• Input – accepts data from user

• Process – manipulate data
• Output – produce result
• Storage – store result

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 Computer Components

❑ Computers are electronic devices capable of performing

computations and making logical decisions at speeds
faster than human beings.

Hardware Software

Computer Component

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 Language of a Computer

❑ Computers can only understand machine language.

❑ Machine language is also called binary numbers or
binary code, which is a sequence of 0s and 1s.
❑ The digits 0 and 1 are called binary digits or bits.
❑ A sequence of 8 bits is called a byte.

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 Types of Programming Language

❑ machine dependent

❑ language is ❑ machine independent

mnemonic ❑ the instructions are quite
❑ use assembler as English-like
translator to ❑ use compiler/interpreter as
translate to machine translator to translate to
language machine language
❑ Example: JAVA, C++, COBOL

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 Types of Programming Language
(cont.)
❑ Example:
To calculate the BMI of a user given the formula:
weight (kg)
BMI =
height (m) x height(m)

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 Differences Between
Programs and Programming
❑ A program is a set of instructions that tell the computer how to
solve a problem or perform a task.
❑ Programming is the process of designing and writing computer
programs.
❑ A program is like a recipe. It contains a list of ingredients (variables)
and a list of directions (statements) that tell the computer what to do
with the variables.
❑ A program can be as short as one line of code, or as long as several
million lines of code.
❑ Computer programs guide the computer through orderly sets of
actions specified by the computer programmers.
❑ The programmer must decide what the programs need to do,
develop the logic of how to do it and write instructions for the
computer in a programming language that the computer can
translate into its own language and execute.
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 The Importance of Computer
Programming
❑ Able to perform difficult tasks without making human-type errors
such as lack of focus, energy, attention or memory.
❑ Capable of performing extended tasks at greater serial speeds than
conscious human thoughts.
❑ Human brain cannot be duplicated or ‘re-booted’ like computers,
and has already achieved ‘optimization’ through design by
evolution, making it difficult to upgrade.
❑ Human brain does not physically integrate well, externally or
internally with current hardware and software.
❑ Non-existence of boredom in computers when performing repetitive
tasks allows jobs to be done faster and more efficiently.

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 The Importance of Writing a Good
Program
Names for variables, types and functions
❑ Variables and constants are storage locations in the computer’s
memory that match with associated names known as identifiers.
❑ The following are some standards that can be used when naming
variables, constants, types and functions:
1. Function names will start with a lowercase letter.
Example: double calculateBMI (double, double);
2. Variable names start with a lowercase letter and the length must
not be more than 40 characters.
Example: double weight, height;
3. Constant names can be all in capital letters.
Example: const int MAX_SIZE =10;

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 The Importance of Writing a Good
Program (cont.)
Indentation styles and spacing
❑ In order to improve readability in programming, indentation can be
used to format the program source code.
• A text editor is used to create a program by following the rules or
syntax of different programming languages.
❑ Spaces can also be added in between sentences to make
programs much more readable.
❑ A new level of indentation should be used at every level of
statement nesting in the program.
❑ The minimum number of spaces at each indentation should be at
least three.
• Many programmers use a tab mark (typically 8 spaces) which will be
easier when indenting source code.

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 The Importance of Writing a Good
Program (cont.)

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 C++ Relationship Between
Programs, Compiler, Interpreter and
Assembler

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 C++ Program Structure

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 C++ Program Structure (cont.)

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 The Flow of Program Execution

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 Comments

❑ Important in any program as they are very useful for documentation but it is
not compulsory to write comments in programs.
– Comments are not source code, thus they will not be read by the
compiler.
❑ Can be written in any way, according to the programmers’ preferences
❑ Explain the purpose, parts of the program and keep notes regarding
changes to the source code
❑ Store programmers’ name for future reference.

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 Pre-processor Directive

❑ Also known as a header file in C++.

❑ It is a line of code that begins with the # symbol.
❑ Header files are not executable code lines but instructions to the
compiler.
❑ Header files are usually included at the top of the program before
the main function.
❑ The most common and important header file is
#include<iostream>.
– This header file tells the pre-processor to include the contents of
the file <iostream> which are the input and output operations
(such as printing to the screen).

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 Function

❑ Main Function
– Every C++ program contains one or more functions,
but one of it must be named as main .
– A function is a block of code that carries out specific
tasks.
– Generally, a main function starts with the function
type void or int before it is followed by the word
main and a pair of parentheses ().
– It is more advisable to write the function type int in
the main function but the word return 0 must be
written at the end of the function before it is closed.

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 Function (cont.)

❑ Braces
– Body of the main function which is enclosed in braces
{}.
• Used to mark the beginning and end of blocks of
code in any program.
• The open brace { is placed at the beginning of
code after the main function and the close brace }
is used to show the closing of code.
• The code after the } will not be read/evaluated by
the compiler.

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 Function (cont.)

❑ Statement
– A function consists of a sequence of statements that
perform the work of the function.
– Every statement in C++
ends with a semicolon (;).

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 Program Development
Life Cycle
❑ The process of developing a program is called program
development.
❑ The process associated with creating successful
application programs is called the Program
Development Life Cycle (PDLC).

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 Analysis

❑ First step in the Program Development Life Cycle

(PDLC).
❑ This process is done by reviewing the program
specifications.
❑ Other criteria must also be identified, especially the data
that will be used as input, the process involved and the
output that will be produced.

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 Design

❑ A programmer needs to develop a series of steps with

logical order, which when applied would produce the
output of the problem.
❑ A solution is created using a structured programming
technique known as algorithm, which consists of
pseudocode and flowchart.
– A procedure or formula for solving a problem.
– A step-by-step problem solving process where the
result is attained in a limited amount of time.

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 Design (cont.)

❑ Some requirements must be satisfied when creating an

algorithm:
1. Unambiguousness
2. Generality
3. Correctness
4. Finiteness

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 Design (cont.)

❑ Before an algorithm is created, the three types of control

structure should be understood first.
❑ A control structure is a pattern to control the flow of a
program module.

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 Pseudocode

❑ A semiformal, English-like language with a limited

vocabulary used to design and describe algorithms.
❑ Every statement in pseudocode involves keywords
which define the process and operands.
❑ Each pseudocode statement should be written in a
separate line.

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 Pseudocode (cont.)

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 Flow Chart

❑ A graphic presentation of the detailed logical sequence

of steps needed to solve programming problems.
❑ Uses geometric symbols where different symbols are
used to represent different actions such as start/stop,
decision, input/output, processing and looping.
❑ Similar to pseudocode, keywords are written in
uppercase, while variable and constant names as well
as operations for the statements are written in lower
case.

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 Flow Chart (cont.)

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 Flow Chart (cont.)

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 Flow Chart (cont.)

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 Flow Chart (cont.)

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 Flow Chart (cont.)

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 Implementation/Coding

❑ The pseudocode and flow chart which have been done

in the design step will be converted into a program by
using certain programming languages such as BASIC,
JAVA, C or C++.
❑ This step solves the problem by enabling the user to
start writing the programs.

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 Implementation/Coding (cont.)

❑ Coding is the actual process of creating a program in a

programming language.
❑ The coded program is referred to as source code.
– Must follow certain rules which are called syntax.
– Must then be saved as a program which has the
extension ‘.cpp’.
❑ To be executed, the program is converted by the
computer into object code using a special program or
translator such as a compiler or interpreter.

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 Testing/Debugging

❑ The step for checking and verifying the correctness of

the program.
❑ The process of making sure a program is free of errors
or ‘bugs’ is called debugging.
❑ Preliminary debugging begins after the program has
been entered into the computer system.

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 Maintenance

❑ Last step in the Program Development Life Cycle

(PDLC).
❑ Essentially, every program, if it is to last a long time,
requires ongoing maintenance.
❑ A process of updating software for any changes,
corrections, additions, moving to a different computing
platform and others so that it continues to be useful.
❑ A costly process.
❑ Can be very useful especially on extending the life of a
program.

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