Introduction to Computer programming languages

1. Introduction to computers

A computer is a multipurpose electronic device that can receive process and store data.
They are used as tools in every part of society together with the Internet. Computers
nowadays are complex; there are a lot of different components inside them, and they
all serve different purposes. They all need to work together for the computer to work;
knowing how a computer works makes it easier to use a computer by being able to
understand how a computer will respond.

Computer

A computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored

in its own memory that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified
rules, produce information (output), and store the information for future use.

Computer Components

Any kind of computers consists of Hardware and Software.

Hardware: Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a
computer system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a
computer such as the
 Input units: Mouse, keyboard, scanner …, etc.
 Output units: Monitor printer…, etc.
 Storage units: computer data storage, hard drive disk (HDD), flash… etc.
 System unit: graphic cards, sound cards, motherboard and chips. …, etc.

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  Processing unit: processor CPU.

Software

Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions,
often broken into two major categories:
System Software that provides task specific functions of the computer. System
software consists of an operating system and some fundamental utilities such as disk
formatters, file managers, display managers, text editors, user authentication (login)
and management tools, and networking and device control software.
Application Software which is used by users to accomplish specific tasks.
Application software may consist of a single program, such as an image viewer; such
as Microsoft Office, a software system such as a database management system.

2. Computer programming language

It is the process of designing and building an executable computer program for
accomplishing a specific computing task. Programming involves tasks such as analysis,
generating algorithms, profiling algorithms accuracy and resource consumption, and
the implementation of algorithms in a chosen programming language (commonly
referred to as coding). The source code of a program is written in one or more
programming languages. The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of

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instructions that will automate the performance of a task for solving a given problem.
The process of programming thus often requires expertise in several different subjects,
including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms, and
formal logic. Programs are written either in one of high-level programming languages
(such as BASIC, C, Java, pascal, matlab, python) which are easier but execute
relatively slowly, or in one of low-level languages (assembly language or
machine language) which are very complex but execute very fast.
Generally, we use languages like English, Hindi, and French etc., to make
communication between two persons. That means, when we want to make
communication between two persons we need a language through which persons can
express their feelings. Similarly, when we want to make communication between user
and computer or between two or more computers we need a language through which
user can give information to computer and vice versa. When user wants to give
any instruction to the computer the user needs a specific language and that
language is known as computer language. User interacts with the computer using
programs and that programs are created using computer programming languages like C,
C++, Java, etc. Computer Languages are classified into three languages :

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The following figure provides few key points related to the computer languages.

3. Language translators

We generally write a computer program using a high-level language. A high-level

language is one which is understandable by us humans. It contains words and phrases
from the English (or other) language. But a computer does not understand high-level
language. It only understands program written in 0's and 1's in binary, called the
machine code. A program written in high-level language is called a source code. We
need to convert the source code into machine code and this is accomplished by
compilers and interpreters. Hence, a compiler or an interpreter is a program that
converts program written in high-level language into machine code understood by the
computer.

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 4. A computer program
In the form of a human-readable, computer programming language is called source
code Translators checks program syntax during translation process. The syntax of
a computer language is the set of rules that defines the combinations of symbols that
are considered to be a correctly structured document or fragment in that language.
Computer language syntax is generally distinguished into three levels:
 Words – the lexical level, determining how characters form tokens;
 Phrases – the grammar level, narrowly speaking, determining how tokens form
phrases;
 Context – determining what objects or variables names refer to, if types are valid,
etc.
The meaning given to a combination of symbols is handled by semantics; the idea is
to examine these notions not from a programmer’s point of view but from the language
designer’s point of view.

5. Algorithm Definition
An algorithm is a set of instructions, sometimes called a procedure or a function that is
used to perform a certain task. This can be a simple process, such as adding two
numbers together, or a complex function, such as adding effects to an image. Most
computer programmers spend a large percentage of their time creating algorithms.
(The rest of their time is spent debugging the algorithms that don’t work properly.)
The goal is to create efficient algorithms that do not waste more computer resources
(such as RAM and CPU time) than necessary. This can be difficult, because an
algorithm that performs well on one set of data may perform poorly on other data. As
you might guess, poorly written algorithms can cause programs to run slowly and even
crash. Therefore, software updates are often introduced, touting “improved stability
and performance”. While this sounds impressive, it also means that the algorithms in
the previous versions of the software were not written as well as they could have been.

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A main benefit of the use of an algorithm comes from the improvement it makes
possible. If the problem solver does not know what was done, he or she will not know
what was done wrong. As time goes by and results are compared with goals, the
existence of a specified solution process allows identification of weaknesses and errors
in the process. Reduction of a task to a specified set of steps or algorithm is an
important part of analysis, control, and evaluation.

EXAMPLE:

Write an algorithm and draw a flow chart to calculate 24.

Algorithm power of number.

Step 1: Input Base (2), Power (4)
Step 2: Product= Base
Step 3: Product = Product * Base
Step 4: Product = Product * Base
Step 5: Product = Product * Base
Step 6: Print Product

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 6. Flowchart Definition

Flowchart is a graphical representation of an algorithm. Programmers often use it as a

program-planning tool to solve a problem. It makes use of symbols which are
connected among them to indicate the flow of information and processing.
The process of drawing a flowchart for an algorithm is known as “flowcharting”.
Basic Symbols used in Flowchart Designs

1. Terminal: The oval symbol indicates Start, Stop and Halt in a program’s logic flow. A
pause/halt is generally used in program logic under some error conditions. Terminal is the
first and last symbols in the flowchart.

2. Input/Output: A parallelogram denotes any function of input/output type. Program

instructions that take input from input devices and display output on output devices are
indicated with parallelogram in a flowchart.

3. Processing: A box represents arithmetic instructions. All arithmetic processes such as

adding, subtracting, multiplication and division are indicated by action or process symbol.

4. Decision Diamond symbol represents a decision point. Decision based operations such
as yes/no question or true/false are indicated by diamond in flowchart.

5. Connectors: Whenever flowchart becomes complex or it spreads over more than one
page, it is useful to use connectors to avoid any confusions. It is represented by a circle.

6. Flow lines: Flow lines indicate the exact sequence in which instructions are executed.
Arrows represent the direction of flow of control and relationship among different
symbols of flowchart.

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EXAMPLE1:

Draw a flow chart to calculate 24.

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EXAMPLE2:

Draw a flowchart to input two numbers from user and display the largest of two
numbers.

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