Programming :: Free Essay Writer

ProgrammingA program is a sequence of instructions that tells the hardware of a computing machine what operations to perform on data. Programs can be built into the hardware itself, or they may exist independently in a form cognize as software. In some specialized, or dedicated, computing devices the operating instructions are embedded in their circuitry common examples are the microcomputers found in calculators, wristwatches, automobile engines, and microwave oven ovens. A general-pur pose computer, on the other hand, contains some built-in programs (in ROM) or instructions (in the processor chip), but it depends on external programs to perform useful tasks. erst a computer has been programmed, it can do only as much or as little as the software controlling it at whatsoever given moment enables it to do. Software in widespread use includes a wide range of applications programs-instructions to the computer on how to perform various tasks. Languages. A computer must be given ins tructions in a language that it understands-that is, a particular pattern of binary digital information. On the earliest computers, programme was a difficult, laborious task, because vacuum-tube ON-OFF switches had to be set by hand. Teams of programmers often took days to program simple tasks such as sorting a list of names. Since that succession a number of computer languages have been devised, some with particular kinds of functioning in mind and others aimed more at ease of use-the user-friendly approach. Machine Language. Unfortunately, the computers possess binary-based language, or machine language, is difficult for humans to use. The programmer must input every command and all data in binary form, and a radical operation such as comparing the contents of a register to the data in a memory-chip location might look like this 11001010 00010111 11110101 00101011. Machine-language programming is such a tedious, time consuming, task that the time saved in running the program rarely justifies the days or weeks needed to write the program. prevarication Language. One method programmers devised to shorten and simplify the process is called assembly-language programming. By assigning a short (usually three-letter) mnemonic code to each machine-language command, assembly-language programs could be written and debugged-cleaned of logical system and data errors-in a fraction of the time needed by machine-language programmers. In assembly language, each mnemonic command and its symbolic operands equals one machine instruction. An assembler program translates the mnemonic opcodes (operation codes) and symbolic operands into binary language and executes the program.