Computer program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:42, 1 March 2003

Revision as of 14:17, 1 June 2003

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[[nlde:computerprogramma]] [[ja:プログラム]] [[zh: %E7%A8%8B%E5%BA%8FComputerprogram]] [[es:programa de ordenador]]

[[nl:computerprogramma]]

A '''computer program''' tells a [[computer]] what the computer should do. It is a sequence of instructions to be executed in order. A computer program consists of a set of instructions that the computer understands.

[[ja:プログラム]] [[zh: %E7%A8%8B%E5%BA%8F]]

A '''computer program''' tells a [[computer]] what the computer should do.

It is a sequence of instructions to be executed in order.

A computer program consists of a set of instructions that the computer understands.

A computer without a program does absolutely nothing.

The instructions in a computer program are in [[machine code]]; they are usually originally written in a computer [[programming language]], and translated to machine code using a computer program called a [[compiler]].
Sometimes the programming language is simply a set of abbreviations for the machine code instructions, called [[assembly language]] -- in this case, a program called an [[assembler]] is used to make the translation.

It is sometimes used as a synonym for "[[computer software|software]]"; although the main part of any software is programs, software also often includes resource files that contain [[data]] of some kind; these are not part of the program ''per se''.
An abstract program is sometimes called an [[algorithm]].

Computer programs are now also the subject of [[mathematics]] - for example,

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An alternative British spelling is '''computer programme''', although this is rare and the British spelling in this context is generally 'program'.

See also: [[Computer software]], [[programming language]], [[Turing machine]], [[programming paradigm]], [[Firmware]]