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Overview of Computers & Programming Languages

1. This document provides an overview of computers and programming languages, covering topics like computer history, hardware and software components, programming language evolution, and programming paradigms like structured and object-oriented programming. 2. It describes the evolution of computers from large expensive machines in the 1950s to smaller, cheaper and more widely used personal computers in the 1990s. 3. It also outlines the evolution of programming languages from early machine languages using binary, to assembly languages using mnemonics, to modern high-level languages that are closer to English.

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ricardo enriquez
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47 views15 pages

Overview of Computers & Programming Languages

1. This document provides an overview of computers and programming languages, covering topics like computer history, hardware and software components, programming language evolution, and programming paradigms like structured and object-oriented programming. 2. It describes the evolution of computers from large expensive machines in the 1950s to smaller, cheaper and more widely used personal computers in the 1990s. 3. It also outlines the evolution of programming languages from early machine languages using binary, to assembly languages using mnemonics, to modern high-level languages that are closer to English.

Uploaded by

ricardo enriquez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

Overview of Computers &

Programming Languages

Chapter 1
2

Chapter Contents
Computer History
Elements of a Computer System
– Hardware
– Software
Language of a Computer
Evolution of Programming Languages
High Level Languages
Analysis-Coding-Execution
Object Oriented Programming
3

Computer History
1950's
– Large devices, accessible to few people
1960's
– Commercial usage emerges
– Operated by experts
1970's
– Computers cheaper, smaller
1990's
– Computers fast, small, inexpensive
– Owned and used by many people
4

Elements of a Computer System


Hardware CPU
• The "brain" of the
• Keyboard
computer
• Disk drive
• Scanner
• Mouse

• Screen
• Hard drive Main Memory
• Printer
• Zip-Disk • Data and
• Plotter
• CD-Rom instructions stored
to, fetched from
• Tape Backup
5

Elements of a Computer System


Software
Systems programs
– Control the computer
– Includes Operating System
Applications programs
– Word processors
– Compilers
– Spreadsheets
– Data Bases
6

The Language of a Computer


Uses digital signals
– all 0's and 1's (binary)
– bits (BInary digiTs)
Data and commands stored in binary
– 8 bits in a byte
– ASCII character stored in a byte
– Integers stored in 2 or 4 bytes
7

Evolution of Programming
Languages
Early computers programmed in machine
languages
– All binary numbers

Assembly language used mnemonic codes


– Codes translated
into machine
language by a
program called
the "assembler"
8

Evolution of Programming
Languages
High level languages read like
combination of English and algebra
write_string (outfile,cust_name,'l',23);
first_line = 1;
ord.read_order(infile);
while (!ord.done())
{
if ( !first_line) write_string (outfile," ",'l',23);
ord.print_order (outfile,part_list);
first_line = 0;
ord.read_order(infile);
}

– Translated into machine language by a


program called a compiler
9

Processing a High-Level Language


Program
1. Source program created with an editor
2. Source code translated into machine
language by compiler
results in a .obj file (object code)
3. Linker combines common library routines
with object code
Results in a .exe file (executable code)
4. Loader brings executable code into
memory and it is run
10

Processing a High-Level Language


Program
11

Analysis-Coding-Execution
Algorithm :
A step-by-step problem-solving process in
which a solution is arrived at in a finite
amount of time
– Steps must be simple, unambiguous
– Steps must be performed in specified order
– Steps must solve the problem
12

Analysis-Coding-Execution
Problem solving process
1. Analyze problem, design solution
algorithm
2. Implement algorithm in a programming
language, verify
3. Maintain program, adapting it to changes
in problem requirements
13

Analysis-Coding-Execution

Analysis and
algorithm design
done apart from any
specific
Processing of the
programming
high-level language
language
programming
language
14

Structured Programming
Thoroughly understand the problem
Determine
– the output desired
– the required input
– processing that will occur
Divide the problem into sub-problems

Other names for this process


– structured design
– top-down design
– stepwise refinement
– modular programming
15

Object-Oriented Programming
Identify components of the problem which
are objects
– Usually these are the nouns in the program
description
Identify operations which are performed on
the objects
– Often these are the verbs in the program
description

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