What Is Programming?
Computer programming is the process of developing lists of instructions. To make the computer do any complex or meaningful task, thousands or millions of instructions may be required.
In the early days, computer programmers developed software by directly writing instructions. This would be equivalent of telling a person to pick up the phone by detailing which muscle to use and how much to flex it.
Now, programming languages make it easier to tell the computer what to do. Using the previous example: Instead of detailing which muscle to move and how much, the programmer can simply say “Pick up the phone.”
A natural language can be thought of as a standard or an agreement on how things are expressed (e.g., English, Spanish, Japanese, French, etc.). In the same way, there are many programming languages that have their own way of telling the computer what to do. Note the following examples on how to write a program to say “Hello world” using different programming languages:
Programming Language | Programming Code |
---|---|
COBOL | IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. HELLO-WORLD. PROCEDURE DIVISION. DISPLAY ‘Hello world’. STOP RUN. |
Fortran | program helloworld print *, “Hello world” end program helloworld |
C++ | # include <iostream> int main () { std::count <<”Hello world”\n; >} |
Java | class HelloWorldApp{ public static void main(String[] args){ System.out.println(“Hello world”); } } |
So why are there so many different programming languages? Different programming languages are designed to do certain tasks easily. Here are examples of older languages and modern languages and their uses:
Programming Language | First Developed | Purpose |
---|---|---|
BASIC | 1960s at Dartmouth | Example of an older language. BASIC was a Beginner All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It was designed to make it easy to write simpler programs. |
Fortran | 1950s by IBM | Example of an older language. FORmula TRANslation. It was designed to easily create complex formulas in scientific or engineering applications. |
C++ | 1980s | Example of a modern language. C++ was designed to exert detailed control over the computer. It is used to create most microcomputer-based software packages today. |
Java | 1990s by Sun Microsystems | Example of a modern language. Java was designed to be “platform independent” so that one version of the source code can run on many computer platforms without modification. |
Who designs a programming language? Typically, a programming language is created by one of two types of designing bodies: a consortium or a company.
Consortium: A consortium of interested parties under the umbrella of a standards-setting body. C++ was standardized under the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Company: A powerful company such as Sun Microsystems (since absorbed by Oracle) developed Java, and the company largely controls the language .
The programming process is as follows:
- A programmer writes the program, and the result is known as a source code.
- Then, a piece of software (usually known as a compiler) translates the source code into the instructions that the computer understands.
- The result of this operation is a file that can be called several things: object code, or executable, or application or app.
References
Backus, J. (October–December 1998). The history of Fortran I, II, and III. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 20(4), 68–78. doi:10.1109/85.728232.
Byous, J.(c. 1998). Java technology: The early years. Archived from the original on April 20, 2005. http://java.sun.com/features/1998/05/birthday.html
Kurtz, T. E. (2017) History of programming languages. http://cis-alumni.org/TKurtz.html
Stroustrup, B. (2010). When was C++ invented? In Bjarne Stroustrup's FAQ. http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#invention