Chapter one

Introduction to programing
What is a programming?
• Computer
• an electronic device that accepts data,
• performs computations, and makes logical decisions according to
instructions that have been given to it
• then produces meaningful information in a form that is useful to the
user
• Computer programs
• Sequences of instructions expressed in specific programming language:
• the instructions that tells the computer what to do
• Is the process of creating computer software using a programming
Language.
• Computer programs (also know as source code)
• Is often written by professionals known as Computer Programmers
• example of programing languages are: Java, C, C++, python, PHP, Perl,
Ruby
• Computer programming
• is the process of writing the, testing it for errors (debugging)
INGREDIENTS:
 1 cup butter
 2 cups (370 grams)
granulated sugar
 4 large eggs
 3 cups (384 grams) cake INSTRUCTIONS:
flour • Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour cake pan
• Step 2: Cream sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl. Add eggs, one at a
 1 tablespoon (12 grams) time, beating briefly after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
baking powder
 1 cup milk • Step 3: Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add to the wet
ingredients and mix well. Add milk and stir until smooth.
 2 teaspoons vanilla • Step 4: Pour the mixture into prepared pan.
• Step 5: Bake for 28 to 30 minutes.
• Step 6: Remove from the oven and cool completely.
• Step 7: Enjoy!
 1.2. Reasons to study programming

• Increased ability to express ideas.

• Improved background for choosing appropriate languages
• Greater ability to learn new languages
• Understand significance of implementation
• Ability to design new languages
• Overall advancement of computing
 1.3. Types and usage of computer languages

a) MACHINE LANGUAGE:
• this is the only language computer actually understands (computer’s native
language)
• Machine dependent
• Cannot be run on another type of computer without significant alterations (different
computers understand different sequences)
• Also called Binary language(sequence of zeroes and ones )
• hard for humans to understand: 01010001…
… cont
b) ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE:
• Arising from the machine language difficulties,
• Writing programs in machine language is slow and tedious for
most programmers
• Here the sequence of 0’s and 1’s are replaced with symbols
• The language provided an opportunity to the programmers
to use English like words that were called Mnemonics
• Symbolic language(assembly) is machine dependent just
like machine language
• Assembler
• translate Assembly language to machine language
• still hard for humans to understand:
• ADD d0,d2
 … cont
C) HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE:
• High level language introduces the use of “almost English” language in writing
computer programs
• It is much easier to write a program than the low level language
• A program written in a high-level language is just like giving instructions to a
person in daily life.
• Examples are FORTRAN, COBOL, PASCAL, C, java, python etc.
• BASIC - Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
• COBOL - Common Business Oriented Language, widely used for business
data processing task
• FORTRAN - Formula Translation
• PASCAL - Named after French mathematician Blaise Pascal
• closer to English easier to read and understand:
• Python
• print("Hello, world!")
• The above computer program instructs the computer to print "Hello, World!" on the
computer screen.
Interpreting vs. Compiling Programs
• Each type of computer only “understands” its own
machine language (zeroes and ones)
• Thus we must translate from High-level language to
machine language
• a team of experts programs a translator, called a “compiler”
which translates entirety of a High-level language program to
an executable file in computer’s native machine language.
• An alternative to compiling your program is to
interpret your program
• each line of your program is translated into machine language
and immediately executed
… cont

• Like translating between natural languages

• Compiler: human translator translates book in its entirety
and then translated book is printed and read
• Interpreter: human interpreter translates each spoken
statement in sequence as speaker is speaking
1.4. Programming paradigms
( group assignment)
Introduction
• A computer is a useful tool for solving a variety of problems.
• To make a computer do anything (i.e. solve a problem), you have to
write a computer program.
• In a computer program you tell a computer, step by step, exactly what
you want it to do.
• The computer then executes the program, following each step.
What is Algorithm?
• The sequence of steps to be performed in order to
solve a problem by the computer is known as an
algorithm.
• Algorithms can be expressed in many different
notations, including natural languages, pseudocode,
flowcharts and programming languages.
• Natural language expressions of algorithms tend to
be verbose and ambiguous, and are rarely used for
complex or technical algorithms
 Characteristics of a good algorithm

Output unambiguity
6 1
Input Characteristics of Flexibility
5 Algorithm
2
Language
Finiteness
4 3 independent
 Guidelines for Developing an Algorithm:

An algorithm will be enclosed by START (or BEGIN) and STOP (or
END)
To accept data from the user, generally used statements are INPUT,
READ, GET or OBTAIN
To display the result or any message, generally used statements are
PRINT, DISPLAY, or WRITE
Generally, COMPUTE or CALCULATE is used while describing
mathematical expressions, and based on the situation relevant
operators can be used.
Algorithm Examples
1. Algorithm to compute square of a number
• Step 1: Start
• Step 2: Read the Number
• Step 3: Compute square = Number * Number
• Step 4: Print square
• Step 5: Stop

2 Algorithm to find the average of three numbers

• Step 1: start
• Step 2: read values of x, y, z
• Step 3: s = q + y+ z
• Step 4: A = s/3
• Step 5: write value of A
• Step 6: stop
 Algorithm Examples

3. Algorithm: Calculation of Simple Interest

• Step 1: Start
• Step 2: Read principle (P), time (T), and rate (R)
• Step 3: Calculate I = P*T*R/100
• Step 4: Print I as Interest
• Step 5: Stop
• Pseudocode and flowcharts are structured ways to
express algorithms that avoid many ambiguities
common in natural language statements, while
remaining independent of a particular
implementation language.
• Programming languages are primarily intended for
expressing algorithms in a form that can be executed
by a computer, but are often used to define or
document algorithms.
Flowchart
• Flowchart is a graphical or symbolic representation of
an algorithm or process.
• It is the diagrammatic representation of the step-by-
step solution to a given problem.
• It describes what operations (and in what sequence)
are required to solve a given problem.
• It doesn’t depend on any particular programming
language.
• Flowchart uses different symbols (geometrical shapes)
to represent different processes and arrows to show
relationship
 Purpose of Flowcharting:
An aid in developing the logic of a program.
Provides means of communication with others about the
program.
A guide in coding the program.
Verification that all possible conditions have been
considered in a program.
Documentation for the program.
Example 1: - Draw flowchart of an
algorithm to add two numbers and
display their result.
• Algorithm description:-
• Step 1: Start
• Step 2: Read the two numbers (A and B)
• Step 3: Assign the sum of A and B to
Sum
• Step 4: Display the result ( Sum)
• Step 5: Stop
 • Example 2:- Write an algorithm description
and draw a flow chart to check a number is
negative or not.
• Algorithm description:-
• Step 1: Start
• Step 2: Read number x
• Step 3: If x is greater than zero
write a message x is positive
number
• Step 4: else write a message x
is negative number
• Step 5: Stop
 • Example 3: - Write the algorithmic description and
draw a flow chart to find the following sum.
Sum = 1+2+3+…. + 50
Algorithmic description:-

1.Initialize a variable sum to 0

2.Initialize another variable i to 1. This variable will act as a counter for the loop.
3.Repeat the following steps until i is greater than 50:
• Add the current value of i to the sum variable
• Increment i by 1 (i = i + 1).
4.Print the final value of sum.
 #include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {
int sum = 0;
int i;
// Loop from 1 to 50 and add each
number to the sum
for (i = 1; i <= 50; i++) {
sum += i;
}

// Print the final sum

cout << "The sum of 1 to 50 is: " << sum
<< endl;

return 0;
} 50. Inside the loop, the current value
This program uses a for loop to iterate from 1 to
of i is added to the sum variable. After the loop completes, the final sum is printed to
the console.
Pseudocode
• Derived from pseudo and code is a compact and informal
high-level description of a computer algorithm that uses
the structural conventions of programming.
• It is easy for humans to read
• No single standard/ syntax for writing pseudocode
• There's no single standard for writing pseudocode, as long as it
clearly conveys the program's logic.
• It is not an executable program
• It's not a real programming language
• Writing it will save you time later during the construction
& testing phase of a program's development.
 Rules used to write pseudocode
1. Write only one statement per line
 Each statement in your pseudocode should express just one action for the
computer.
2. Capitalize initial keyword
We will use just a few keywords: Common keywords like "if,"
"else," "while," "for," "function," and "return" are used to represent
control flow and program structures
• INPUT/READ – indicates a user will be inputting something.
• OUTPUT/WRITE – indicates that an output will appear on the screen.
• WHILE – a loop (iteration that has a condition at the beginning)
• FOR – a counting loop (iteration)
• IF – THEN – ELSE – a decision (selection) in which a choice is made any
instructions that occur inside a selection or iteration are usually indented.
3. Indent to show hierarchy
• indentation refers to the practice of adding spaces or tabs at the beginning
of lines of code to visually represent the structure and hierarchy of the
program
• We will use a particular indentation pattern in each of the design
structures:
• Consistent indentation improves readability and visually shows the
program's structure.
Sequence: Statements that execute one after the other are typically
kept at the same level of indentation
Selection(if-else): indent the statements that fall inside the selection
structure, but not the keywords that form the selection
Looping(for, while): ident the statements that fall inside the loop,
but not the keywords that form the loop
Pseudocode examples
#include <iostream>
Pseudocode Example
using namespace std;
: Issue for driver license
BEGIN int main() {
OUTPUT "Enter your age" int age;

INPUT age cout << "Enter your age: ";

IF age>=18 then cin >> age;

OUTPUT "You can take if (age >= 18) {

driving licence" cout << " You can take driving licence."
ELSE << endl;
}
OUTPUT "You can't take else {
driving licence" cout << " You can't take driving
ENDIF licence" << endl;
}
END
return 0;
}
 4. End multiline structures
• See how the IF/ELSE/ENDIF is constructed above.
• The ENDIF is always in line with the IF.
• Always use scope terminators for loops and iteration.
Pseudocode Example :
Print Numbers from 1 to 100.
BEGIN
NUMBER counter
FOR counter = 1 TO 100 STEP 1 DO
OUTPUT counter
ENDFOR
END
5. Keep statements language independent
E.g. Draw a flowchart and write a pseudocode to find the
greater number between two numbers.
Solution
Pseudocode
Flow Chart
BEGIN
INPUT A
INPUT B
IF A > B THEN
OUTPUT A+ "is higher"
ELSE
OUTPUT B+ "is higher"
ENDIF
END
Translating algorithms to programming languages
• Example:-
• Write a program that obtains two integer numbers
from the user. It will print out the sum of those
numbers.
• Algorithm:
• Prompt the user to enter the first integer
• Prompt the user to enter a second integer
• Compute the sum of the two user inputs
• Display an output that explains the answer as the sum
• Display the result
 Basic program development tips
The program we design in any programming language need
to be:
Reliable: the program should always do what it is expected
to do and handle all types of exception.
Maintainable: the program should be in a way that it could
be modified and upgraded when the need arises.
Portable: It needs to be possible to adapt the software
written for one type of computer to another with minimum
modification.
Efficient: the program should be designed to make optimal
use of time, space and other resources of the computer
 Program Development Cycle:

1. Analyze: Define the problem

2. Design: Plan the solution to the problem
4. Code: Translate the algorithm into a programming language.
5. Debug and Test: Locate and remove any errors in the
program.
6. Complete the Documentation: Organize all the materials that
describe the program
Quiz
• Data Structures( Chapter 5)
• What is a computer program and Algorithm write the
difference of the two?
• Differentiate between an interpreter and compiler
• State why High level language is very easy to use
compared with the earlier ones
• Write the algorithmic description and draw a flow
chart that find the difference and the division of two
numbers and display the results