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Module 1 Comprog 1

Introduction to Computer Programming: Unlocking the Power of Code This guide serves as a friendly introduction to the world of computer programming, a skill that empowers you to create, innovate, and solve problems using the language of computers. Whether you're a curious beginner or seeking a foundational understanding, this document will equip you with the essential knowledge to embark on your programming journey.

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411 views23 pages

Module 1 Comprog 1

Introduction to Computer Programming: Unlocking the Power of Code This guide serves as a friendly introduction to the world of computer programming, a skill that empowers you to create, innovate, and solve problems using the language of computers. Whether you're a curious beginner or seeking a foundational understanding, this document will equip you with the essential knowledge to embark on your programming journey.

Uploaded by

KC
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MODULE 1

COMPUTER PROGRAMMING 1
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING 1

or coding is a writing software (computer programs or code) that involves


describing processes and/or procedures (algorithms) which are the steps it
takes to do something

the processes/procedures in computer programming are specified into


detailed lists of instructions – what is called the source code representation of
software (Haas, 2016)
This code or program comes in a variety of
languages. A computer programming
language, when compared to natural languages
which man uses, simply serves to “bridge the
gap between something the computer can
understand (binary), something that humans
can understand, and are capable of crafting
programs with”.

The most common classification of computer


languages is that of high-level and low level,
where the levels are, of course, relative.
• High-Level Language

- are programming languages that are


designed to be easier for humans to read and
write than low-level languages. They use a
syntax that is closer to natural language,
making them more intuitive and easier to learn.

- code is very similar to English so that almost


all computer programming these days are done
with them.
Examples: Ada, BASIC, C#, C++, Fortran, HTML, Hugo, Java, Javascript, Logo,
Modula, Perl, PHP, Python, R, RPG, Simula, Smalltalk, Swift, Visual LISP, ZetaLisp
Advantages:
a) easier to write, read, debug (fix errors on) and
maintain
b) portable – can be used on many types of
computer
c) produces much shorter code than low-level
languages

Disadvantages:
a) generally slower than low-level languages
b) less efficient in the use of computer resources
than low-level languages (Prakash, 2017)
2. Low-Level Language
- are programming languages that are closer to the
machine code that computers understand. They
provide more direct control over the hardware, but
they are also more difficult to read and write than
high-level languages.

- code is similar to native* machine (computer)


language, that is, ones (1s) and zeroes (0s), also called
binary values.
Examples: assembly languages, such as IBM 360 assembler, PDP-10
assembler, Intel x86 assembler, Linux x86-64 assembler (*a computer
has its own low-level s (1s) and zeroes (0s), also called binary values.
Advantages:
a) the programmer has complete control over what
the computer is doing
b) very useful for computing-intensive tasks

Disadvantages:
a) level of detail required is much too tedious for
humans; code is much, much longer than high-
level ones
b) not portable; works only on the particular
computer it was designed for
Traditionally, programmers are taught how to display “hello world” message
on the screen as their first program. Below are sample codes in different
computer languages.

A. JavaScript (Jones, 2017) code; this is different from Java, programming language
you will be learning in this course:
B. Linux x86-64 assembly (Fisher, 2018) program:
C. Swift (appcoda.com, 2017) program, the language used in
Apple devices:
Ada Lovelace’s friend, Charles Babbage (the Father of Computing) gave a lecture in Italy
about his mechanical general-purpose computing machine (not completed) which he called
the “Analytical Engine”. A transcript of his lecture was translated by Lovelace into English, to
which she added her own notes.

Ada Lovelace published her notes (3x longer and took 9 months to finish) about
how a never-built computer (Analytical Engine) could calculate a mathematical
sequence (Bernoulli numbers). This note had all the steps that formed the
algorithm of the first published computer program.
ANALYTICAL ENGINE - a
ADA LOVELACE - first computer CHARLES BABBAGE - father
proposed digital mechanical
programmer as she drafted of computing that designed
general-purpose computer
plans for how a machine called the first automatic
designed by English
computing engines
the Analytical Engine could mathematician and computer
perform computations. pioneer Charles Babbage
Fast forward to ninety-six years after Babbage’s Analytical Engine, Alan Turing presented the
concept of a “universal machine, later called the Turing machine”, which can “compute
anything that is computable”. Thus was born the central concept of the modern computer
and the notion of programming (instructions on how to compute any kind of what) at the
machine level.

John Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, designed a computer that
can solve 29 equations simultaneously. This marked the first time a computer is
able to store information on its main memory.
ALAN TURING - ABC or Atanasoff-Berry JOHN ATANASOFF (right)
Computer - the first electronic and his graduate student,
developed the idea for
digital computer. CLIFFORD BERRY (left) -
the Universal Turing
Machine, the basis for designed the first electronic
the first computer. digital computer.
Grace Hopper developed the first computer language, which eventually became
known as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language). The following year the
FORTRAN programming language, an acronym for FORmula TRANslation, was
developed by a team of programmers at IBM led by John Backus, according to the
University of Michigan.

Douglas Engelbart showed a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse


and a graphical user interface (GUI). This marked the evolution of the computer
from a specialized machine for scientists and mathematicians to technology that
was more accessible to the general public.
COBOL (Common Business-
Oriented Language) - is a
GRACE HOPPER - high-level programming
invented the first language for business
computer compiler, a applications. It was the first
program that popular language designed to
translates written be operating system-agnostic
instructions into codes and is still in use in many
that computers read financial and business
directly. applications today.
Computer Mouse

Graphical User Interface


DOUGLAS ENGELBART -
(GUI) featuring windows,
(sometimes reffered to
hypertext, and dynamic file
as the “father of
linking
groupware”) invented
the first computer Douglas Engelbart using the NLS’s 5-
button chord keyset, a standard QWERTY
mouse, the development keyboard, and 3-button mouse, around
of the basic graphical 1968. Smithsonian National Museum of
user interface (GUI), and American History (Catalog
groupware. #2015.3073.11)
a number of personal computers hit the market, including Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair,
IBM 5100, Radio Shack's TRS-80 and the Commodore PET. The Tandy computer
would be credited with pioneering the idea of a mass market personal computer.
As one of the first machines whose documentation was intended for non-geeks, it
meant that for the first time, non-geeks could write programs and make a
computer do what they wished
Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair IBM 5100 Radio Shack's TRS-80

Commodore PET Tandy Computer


Less than two generations (of which halfway through the Internet
was born) of non-geek programmers after that (pun intended),
millions of programs (exponentially boosted by the web) have been
developed, both for the benefit, and the bad fortune, of mankind.

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