Introduction to Programming

How do computers work?

There are three factors involved in a computing environment:

• Hardware

• Software

• “Peopleware”

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Hardware

These are all parts of the computer that can be touched:

• mouse

• keyboard

• monitor

• CPU

• printer

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Software

These are programs that instructs the computer on how to use the hardware. It can be

• BIOS

• Operating System (like Windows XP, Linux, Mac OSX)

• Applications Programs (Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, NBA 2K14)

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“Peopleware”

These are humans who either use the programs or create the programs. The people who create programs are called programmers.

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Without a program…

The computer is just a collection of metals, plastics and glass parts.

It cannot run by itself.

The capabilities of a computer is dependent upon the programmer.

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Human-to-human Communication

• Happens through the use of a common language

• If two humans do not have a common language they use an interpreter who understand both languages

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Human-to-computer Communication

• Computers do not understand any human language. It only knows two states: ON or OFF or in numbers: 1 and 0.

• Computers only understand Binary Language or Machine Language

• Programming languages are needed to help humans communicate with computers

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Types of Programming Languages

• Machine Level Language (MLL)

• Assembly Level Language

• High Level Language

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Machine Level Language (MLL)

• Basic language of computers

• Only language understood by computers

• Consists of a sequence of 1s and 0s

• Also called object code or binary code

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Assembly Level Language

• Uses mnemonic or symbolic codes

• Cannot be understood by computers

• Requires a software called assembler to translate code to machine language

Assembly Language Program

ASSEMBLER Machine Language

Program

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High Level Language

• Use general English words

• More user friendly than Assembly language

• Requires a COMPILER as translator

High Level Language Program

COMPILER Machine Language

Program

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Summary

• Computers work because of three components: hardware, software and “peopleware”.

• Software tells the computer how to use hardware.

• Softwares are written using programming languages.

• Programming languages can be categorized as either of these: Machine Level Language, Assembly Level Language and High Level Language.

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