Chapter 1:

Introduction to
Computers and
Programming

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 1.1
Why Program?

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Why Program?
Computer – programmable machine designed
to follow instructions
Program – instructions in computer memory to
make it do something
Programmer – person who writes instructions
(programs) to make computer perform a task

SO, without programmers, no programs;

without programs, a computer cannot do
anything

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 1.2
Computer Systems: Hardware
and Software

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Main Hardware Component
Categories:
1. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
2. Main Memory
3. Secondary Memory / Storage
4. Input Devices
5. Output Devices

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Main Hardware Component
Categories

Figure 1-2

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Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Comprised of:
Control Unit
Retrieves and decodes program instructions
Coordinates activities of all other parts of computer
Arithmetic & Logic Unit
Hardware optimized for high-speed numeric
calculation
Hardware designed for true/false, yes/no decisions

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CPU Organization

Figure 1-3

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Main Memory
• It is volatile. Main memory is erased when
program terminates or computer is turned off
• Also called Random Access Memory (RAM)
• Organized as follows:
– bit: smallest piece of memory. Has values 0 (off,
false) or 1 (on, true)
– byte: 8 consecutive bits. Bytes have addresses.

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Main Memory
• Addresses – Each byte in memory is
identified by a unique number known as
an address.

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Main Memory

• In Figure 1-4, the number 149 is stored in

the byte with the address 16, and the
number 72 is stored at address 23.
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Secondary Storage
• Non-volatile: data retained when program
is not running or computer is turned off
• Comes in a variety of media:
– magnetic: floppy disk, hard drive
– optical: CD-ROM, DVD
– Flash drives, connected to the USB port

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Input Devices
• Devices that send information to the
computer from outside
• Many devices can provide input:
– Keyboard, mouse, scanner, digital camera,
microphone
– Disk drives, CD drives, and DVD drives

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Software-Programs That Run on a
Computer
• Categories of software:
– System software: programs that manage the
computer hardware and the programs that run
on them. Examples: operating systems, utility
programs, software development tools
– Application software: programs that provide
services to the user. Examples : word
processing, games, programs to solve
specific problems

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 1.3
Programs and Programming
Languages

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Programs and Programming
Languages
• A program is a set of instructions that the
computer follows to perform a task

• We start with an algorithm, which is a set

of well-defined steps.

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Example Algorithm for Calculating
Gross Pay

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Machine Language
• Although the previous algorithm defines
the steps for calculating the gross pay, it is
not ready to be executed on the computer.
• The computer only executes machine
language instructions

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Machine Language
• Machine language instructions are binary
numbers, such as

1011010000000101

• Rather than writing programs in machine

language, programmers use programming
languages.

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Programs and Programming
Languages
• Types of languages:

– Low-level: used for

communication with computer
hardware directly. Often written
in binary machine code (0’s/1’s)
directly.

– High-level: closer to human

language

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Some Well-Known Programming
Languages (Table 1-1 on Page 10)

C++
BASIC Ruby
FORTRAN
Java
Visual Basic
COBOL
C#
JavaScript
C Python
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From a High-Level Program to an
Executable File
a) Create file containing the program with a text
editor.
b) Run preprocessor to convert source file
directives to source code program statements.
c) Run compiler to convert source program into
machine instructions.
d) Run linker to connect hardware-specific code to
machine instructions, producing an executable
file.
• Steps b–d are often performed by a single
command or button click.
• Errors detected at any step will prevent
execution of following steps.

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From a High-Level Program to an
Executable File

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Integrated Development
Environments (IDEs)
• An integrated development environment,
or IDE, combine all the tools needed to
write, compile, and debug a program into a
single software application.
• Examples are Microsoft Visual C++, Turbo
C++ Explorer, CodeWarrior, etc.

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Integrated Development
Environments (IDEs)

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 1.4
What is a Program Made of?

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What is a Program Made of?
• Common elements in programming
languages:
– Key Words
– Programmer-Defined Identifiers
– Operators
– Punctuation
– Syntax

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Program 1-1

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Key Words
• Also known as reserved words
• Have a special meaning in C++
• Can not be used for any other purpose
• Key words in the Program 1-1: using,
namespace, int, double, and return

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Key Words

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Programmer-Defined Identifiers
• Names made up by the programmer
• Not part of the C++ language
• Used to represent various things: variables
(memory locations), functions, etc.
• In Program 1-1: hours, rate, and pay.

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Operators
• Used to perform operations on data
• Many types of operators:
– Arithmetic - ex: +,-,*,/
– Assignment – ex: =

• Some operators in Program1-1:

<< >> = *

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Operators

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Punctuation
• Characters that mark the end of a
statement, or that separate items in a list
• In Program 1-1: , and ;

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Punctuation

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Syntax
• The rules of grammar that must be
followed when writing a program
• Controls the use of key words, operators,
programmer-defined symbols, and
punctuation

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Variables
• A variable is a named storage location in
the computer’s memory for holding a piece
of data.
• In Program 1-1 we used three variables:
– The hours variable was used to hold the
hours worked
– The rate variable was used to hold the pay
rate
– The pay variable was used to hold the gross
pay

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Variable Definitions
• To create a variable in a program you
must write a variable definition (also called
a variable declaration)

• Here is the statement from Program 1-1

that defines the variables:

double hours, rate, pay;

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Variable Definitions
• There are many different types of data,
which you will learn about in this course.

• A variable holds a specific type of data.

• The variable definition specifies the type of

data a variable can hold, and the variable
name.

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Variable Definitions
• Once again, line 7 from Program 1-1:

double hours, rate, pay;

• The word double specifies that the

variables can hold double-precision
floating point numbers. (You will learn
more about that in Chapter 2)

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 1.5
Input, Processing, and Output

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Input, Processing, and Output
Three steps that a program typically
performs:
1) Gather input data:
• from keyboard
• from files on disk drives
2) Process the input data
3) Display the results as output:
• send it to the screen
• write to a file

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 1.6
The Programming Process

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The Programming Process

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 1.7
Procedural and Object-Oriented
Programming

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Procedural and Object-Oriented
Programming
• Procedural programming: focus is on the
process. Procedures/functions are written
to process data.
• Object-Oriented programming: focus is on
objects, which contain data and the means
to manipulate the data. Messages sent to
objects to perform operations.

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