Program Development


A computer program (computer application)is a set of instructions that directs a computer to perform tasks.
A computer programmer creates the instructions using a programming language.
A programming language is a set of words, symbols, and codes that enables a programmer to communicate instructions to a computer.
 

Creating a program

    1. First you design the program, sometimes called pseudocode. Pseudcode is writing out the program in plain English so it is easily understood and the flow can be easily tracked.

    2. Write the Source Code. Source Code is the program written in the proper syntax for a particular programming language.


Next this source code must be put through a Compiler  which changes the source code into machine language that the computer (processor) can understand. Machine language is the executable file that users such as yourself run, like as in Word or Excel. Machine language cannot be understood by reading it as a text file. 

An explanation of the code above:


The following is the program running. As you can see it is just a text based program with no graphical user interface:
 


This is a very simple program, it should be noted that a program such as Word can have millions of lines of code, with teams of programmers working on all the different facets of the program.
 

Errors

There are two type of errors that programmers have to deal with when programming
 

Control Structures


Control Structures -  tell the programs which action to take.

Programming languages

Hundreds of programming languages exist, but only a handful are used for most commercial applications that exists today.
  Object Oriented approach to programming
It's the newest philosophy of programming. The philosophy is that a programmer can create a piece of code (called a module) that completes a task. If there is another program that needs that same task you can just plug that module in to the new program.

My example to explain this philosophy is a kitchen. A kitchen has a lot of parts that can run to make the area a kitchen for example a refridgerator, a blender, a microwave, etc. etc.
If another kitchen is created the applicances that are needed such as the microwave can be taken from the first kitchen and plugged into the second kitchen. This is the philosophy of object orientation, take a module of code from one program and plug it into the second program.