CC111: Introduction to Computers

Lecture 9: Program Development and Programming Languages

1 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Overview
 This chapter covers:
 The most common approaches to program design and
development
 The steps in the program development life cycle (PDLC)
 Tools that can facilitate program development
 Popular programming languages

2 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Approaches to Program Design and Development
 Procedural programming: Focuses on the step-by-step
instructions that tell the computer what to do
 Uses procedures (modules, subprograms): Smaller sections of code that
perform particular tasks
 Allows each procedure to be performed as many times as needed
without requiring multiple copies of code
 Prior to procedural programming, programs were one large set of
instructions containing statements that sent control to different parts of
the program as needed (i.e. GOTO statements)
 Structured programming: Breaks the program into small chunks
 Top-down design

3 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 Approaches to Program Design and Development
 Variables: Named memory locations that are
defined for a program
 Used to store the current value of data items used in
the program

4 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 Approaches to Program Design and
Development
 Object-oriented programming (OOP): Programs consist of a
collection of objects
 Objects: Contain data and methods to be used with that data
 Class: Group of objects that share some common properties
 Instance: An individual object in a class
 Attributes: Data about the state of an object
 Methods:
Perform
actions on an
object

5 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 Approaches to Program Design and
Development
 Aspect-oriented programming (AOP): Breaks program into
small pieces that overlap in functionality as little as possible
 Program components can be developed and modified individually, and
easily reused
 Adaptive software development: Designed to make program
development faster and more efficient and focus on adapting the
program as it is being written
 Iterative: Cyclical approach that allows the repetition of steps and tasks
as needed
 Incremental: Developing one piece at a time
 Includes RAD (rapid application development) and extreme
programming (XP)
 More recent adaptive software development approaches are called agile
software development
6 By: Dr. Wael Hosny
 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Program development: The process of creating
application programs
 Program development life cycle (PDLC):The steps
involved with creating programs

7 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 The Program Development Life Cycle
(PDLC)
 Problem analysis: The problem is considered and the program
specifications are developed
 Specifications developed during the SDLC are reviewed by the systems
analyst and the programmer (the person who will code the program)
 Goal: To understand the functions the software must perform
 Documentation: Includes program specifications (what it does,
timetable, programming language to be used, etc)

8 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Program design: The set of steps needed in order for the
program to perform the tasks it is supposed to perform
(algorithm) is developed
 Good program design is extremely important
 Program design tools
 Structure charts: Depict the overall organization of a program
 Flowcharts: Show
graphically step-by-step
how a computer program
will process data
 Use special symbols and
relational operators

9 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 Flowcharts

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 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Pseudocode: Uses English-like statements to outline the logic of a program

11 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)

 Unified Modeling Language (UML) Models: Set of standard

notations for creating business models
 Widely used in object-oriented programs
 Includes class diagrams, use case diagrams, etc.
 Business Processing Modeling Notation (BPMN): Graphical
notation used to depict the steps in a business process
 Expresses business processes graphically using Business Process Diagrams
 Look similar to flowcharts
 Designed to be understood by everyone

12 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 Unified Modeling Language (UML)
Models

13 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Control structure: A Pattern for controlling the flow of logic in a
computer program
 Sequence control structure: Series of statements that follow one another
 Selection control structure: Multiple paths, direction depends on result of test
If-then-else
 Case
 Repetition control structure: Repeat series of steps
 Do-while
 Do-until

14 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Control Structures

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 Control Structures

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 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Good program design:
 Saves time
 Creates better programs
 Good program design principles:
 Be specific
 All things the program must do need to be specified
 One-entry-point/one-exit-point rule
 No infinite loops or other logic errors
 Infinite loop: Series of steps that repeat forever
 Design should be tested to ensure logic is correct
 Desk check; tracing tables
 Documentation: Includes design specifications

17 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Program coding: The process of writing the programming
language statements to create a computer program
 When choosing a programming language, consider:
 Suitability to the application
 Integration with other programs
 Standards for the company
 Programmer availability
 Portability if being run on multiple platforms
 Development speed
 Coding creates source code

18 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Coding Standards
 Coding standards: A list of rules designed to standardize
programming styles
 Make programs more universally readable and easier to maintain
 Includes the proper use of comments to:
 Identify the programmer and last modification date
 Explain variables used in the program
 Identify the main parts of the program
 Reusable code: Generic code segments that can be used over and
over again with minor modifications
 Can greatly reduce development time
 Documentation: Includes documented source code

19 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Coding Standards

20 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Program debugging and testing: The process of ensuring a
program is free of errors (bugs) and works as it is supposed to
 Before they can be debugged, coded programs need to be translated
into executable code
 Source code: Coded program before it is compiled
 Object code: Machine language version of a program
 Language translator: Program that converts source code to machine language

21 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Types of language translators:
 Compilers: Combines program with other
object modules and creates a finished
executable program
 Interpreters: Translates one line of
code at one time
 Assemblers: Convert assembly language
programs into
machine
language

22 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

 The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)

• Preliminary debugging: Finds initial errors

• Compiler errors: Must be corrected before the logic of the
program can be tested
• Syntax errors: Occur when the programmer has not followed the
rules of the programming language
• Program won’t run; usually an error message is displayed
• Run time error: Occurs when the program is running
• Often logic errors: Program will run but produces incorrect
results
• Dummy print statements can help locate logic errors and
other run time errors

23 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)
 Testing occurs after the program appears to be correct to find any
additional errors
 Should use good test data
 Tests conditions that will occur when the program is implemented
 Should check for coding omissions (product quantity allowed to be < 0,
etc.)
 Alpha test (inside organization)
 Beta test (outside testers)
 Documentation: Completed program package (user’s manual,
description of software commands, troubleshooting guide to help
with difficulties, etc.)

24 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

The Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC)

 Program implementation and maintenance: Installing and

maintaining the program
 Once the system containing the program is up and running, the
implementation process is complete
 Program maintenance: Process of updating software so it continues to
be useful
 Very costly
 Documentation: Amended program package

25 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Programming Languages
 Programming language: A set of rules used to write computer
programs
 To write a program, you need appropriate software for the
programming language you will be using
 Categories of programming languages
 Low-level languages: Difficult to code in; machine dependent
 Machine language: 1s and 0s
 Assembly language: Includes some words and symbols

26 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Programming Languages
 High-level languages: Closer to natural languages and so are easier to
write in
 Machine independent
 Includes third-level procedural languages such as FORTRAN, BASIC,
COBOL, Pascal, and C, as well as newer object-oriented languages such as
Visual Basic, C++, C#, Python, Ruby, and Java
 Fourth-generation languages (4GLs): Even closer to natural languages
and easier to work with than 3GLs
 Declarative rather than procedural
 Includes structured query language (SQL) used with databases

27 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Programming Languages
 Natural programming languages: Users can communicate in their native
language
 Doesn’t have to follow program syntax
 In the infancy stage
 Visual programming languages: Uses a visual programming environment
 User can use mouse and graphical interface and the code is automatically generated
 Visual versions of many programming languages
 Visual programming environment (VPE): Use visual elements to assist in program
development but still require some coding

28 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 FORTRAN: High-level programming language used for
mathematical, scientific, and engineering applications
 Efficient for math
and scientific
applications

29 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 COBOL: Designed for business transaction processing
 Makes extensive use of modules and submodules
 Being phased out in many organizations

30 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 Pascal: Created as a teaching tool to encourage structured
programming
 Contains a variety of control structures used to manipulate
modules systematically

31 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 BASIC: Easy-to-learn, high-level programming language that
was developed to be used by beginning programmers
 Visual Basic: Object-oriented version of BASIC which helps
programmers quickly and easily create programs through the
use of a visual environment

32 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 C: Designed for system programming
 C++, and C#: Object-oriented versions of C

33 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 Java: High-level, object-oriented programming language
frequently used for Web-based applications
 Platform independence is one of Java’s biggest advantages
 Any operating system or browser that understands Java (compiled
Java programs) can run Java bytecode applications
 Is one of the most popular programming languages today
 Can be used to write Java applets

34 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 Python: Open-source, dynamic, object-oriented language
that can be used to develop a variety of applications
 Gaming, scientific, database, and Web applications
 Only recently gaining a following

35 By: Dr. Wael Hosny

Common Programming Languages
 Ruby: Open-source, object-oriented language that can be
used to create general-purpose or Web applications
 Uses a syntax that is fairly easy to read and write, allowing
programmers to create database-driven Web applications easily
and quickly

36 By: Dr. Wael Hosny