Computer programming: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:42, 4 November 2003

Revision as of 13:58, 4 December 2003

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[[cs:Programov%C3%A1n%C3%AD]] [[es:programación]] [[fr:Programmation]]

[[ja:プログラミング]][[sv:Programmering]][[zh: %E7%A8%8B%E5%BA%8F%E8%AE%BE%E8%AE%A1]][[ko:프로그래밍]]

'''Programming''' is the [[act]] of creating a [[computer program]], a concrete set of instructions[[instruction]]s for a [[computer]] to carry out. The [[program]] is written in a [[programming language]], although its possible to directly write in [[machine code]], with a certain difficulty. Different parts of a program may be written in different languages[[language]]s.

Different programming languages work in different ways. So, programmers[[programmer]]s may create very different programs for different languages; although, theoretically, most languages can be used to create any possible program. For more information on those methods, please see individual language entries elsewhere.

[[Software]] is a [[mass noun]] for computer programs and data.

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=== Programs versus algorithms ===

An [[algorithm]] is, in one sense, an abstracted program - to put it another way, a program is an [[algorithm]] made concrete. However, all but the smallest programs are most easily thought of as a collection of smaller algorithms combined in a unique way - as a [[house]] is built from components[[component]]s.

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Creating a computer program consists of five major steps:

#Recognizing the [[need]] for a [[program]] to solve a [[problem]].

#Planning the program and selecting the tools[[tool]]s to solve the problem.

#Writing the program in the [[programming language]] of choice.

#Compiling: translating the human-readable source code into machine-readable [[executable code]], which is done by compilers[[compiler]]s and other tools.

#Testing the program to make sure it works; if not, return to step 3 (see [[code and fix]]).

These 5 steps are collectively known as [[software engineering]]. ''Programming'' emphasizes steps 2, 3 and 4. ''Coding'' emphasizes step 3. The term ''[[coder]]'', sometimes used as a synonym for programmer, can be demeaning, because it ignores the skills they use in tackling the other four steps.

=== Prehistory ===

The earliest known computer programmer was [[Ada Lovelace]], daughter of [[Anabella]] and [[Lord Byron]] (the poet). Anabella gave her love of [[mathematics]] to Ada, who after meeting [[Charles Babbage]], translated and expanded a description of his [[analytical engine]]. Even though Babbage never completed [[construction]] of any of his machines, the work that he and Ada did on them earned her the title of the world's first computer programmer, see [[Ada Byron's notes on the analytical engine]]. The [[Ada programming language]] is named for her. ''(To do: find name of first programmer to complete all 5 steps, including compiling and testing.)''

[[Alan Turing]] is often considered the [[father]] of [[computer science]], and by proxy, programming. He was responsible for helping design and program a computer to break the German [[Enigma|ENIGMA]] code during [[World War Two]].

== See also ==

''See also:'' [[event-driven programming]], [[software]], [[software documentation]], [[computer science]], [[software engineering]], [[imperative programming]], [[functional programming]], [[cut and paste programming]], [[black box testing]]

* [[event-driven programming]]

* [[software]]

* [[software documentation]]

* [[computer science]]

* [[software engineering]]

* [[imperative programming]]

* [[functional programming]]

* [[cut and paste programming]]

* [[black box testing]]