Introduction to Programming

Program :-

• It is the set of instructions organised into a particular to complete a particular task.
• In Computer Science a program is written using a particular programming language.
• The person who writes the program is called Programmer.
• The set of program is called software.
• The set of software is called Software Package.
• The person who is responsible for the software development , known as Software Developer.

Programming Language :-

• The language in which program can be written for the computer , known as programming language.
• A programming language may or may not be  directly understood by the computer.
• In other words we can say that programming language is a medium to write a program.
• It can also be defined as the set of rules, which are used to write a program.
• There are different types of programming languages.

According to methods of Programming :-

1. Procedural Programming Language
2. Non-procedural Programming Language

Procedural Programming Language :-

The programming language in which to complete a task , we have to define the procedure of working i.e. 'what to do?' and 'how to do?' also.

                    e.g.    C Language

                              C++ Language

                              Java

                              C# , etc.

Non-procedural programming Language:-

In this programming language we don't have to define the procedure of working i.e. we have to define 'what to do?' only , not 'how to do?'.

                e.g.      SQL (Structured Query Language)

According to the development of programming language:-

1. Machine Language
2. Assembly Language
3. High Level Language
4. Fourth Generation Language

Machine Language :-

• This Language was used during 1st generation of computer , so it is also known as first generation language.
• This language can be directly understood by the compiler because the instructions are written in binary.
• In this language there is no need of language translator.
• The execution of program in this language is faster than all other languages.
• To learn and understood this language is very difficult.
• It is machine dependent i.e. a program developed in one machine can't execute on other machine.

Assembly Language :-

• In this programming language the instructions are written using some special words , known as keywords or mnemonics or pseudo code.

           e.g.    

           SUM for addition

           SUB for subtraction

           MUL for multiplication

           DIV for division , etc.

• It requires language translator , called assembler , to translate  their program into machine language.
• The execution of program gets slower due to the use of language translator.
• It is also difficult to learn and understand because we have to remember the set of mnemonics, but easier than the machine language.

High Level Language :-

• The use of high level language (HLL) starts during third generation , so it is also known as third generation language.
• This language is very close to the english language , so to write the instructions in this language is very easy than previous language.
• Since, it is not in binary, it also requires language translator to translate their program.

                                It uses compiler or interpreter  to translate their program.

• The execution of program in this language is slower than the previous language.
• It is machine independent i.e. a program developed on one machine can execute on other machine also.

       e.g.    C Language

                 BASIC (Beginer's All purpose Symbolic Instructions Code)

                 COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

                 FORTRAN (Formula Translation)

Fourth Generation Language :-

• This  Language is basically the high level languages with some extra features like- network programming , object oriented programming , embedded programming etc.
• It also requires language translator (Compiler or Interpreter) to translate their program.
• It is easier than all the previous languages.

                 e.g.    C++ , JAVA , C#