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Computer programming
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v•d•e

Computer programming (often shortened to programming or coding) is the process of

designing, writing, testing, debugging / troubleshooting, and maintaining the source code of
computer programs. This source code is written in a programming language. The purpose of
programming is to create a program that exhibits a certain desired behaviour. The process of
writing source code often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of
the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Definition
 2 Overview
 3 History
 4 Modern programming
o 4.1 Quality requirements
o 4.2 Algorithmic complexity
o 4.3 Methodologies
o 4.4 Measuring language usage
o 4.5 Debugging
 5 Programming languages
 6 Programmers
 7 See also
 8 References
 9 Further reading
 10 External links

[edit] Definition
This section requires expansion with:
alternate definitions of computer programming.

Hoc and Nguyen-Xuan define computer programming as "the process of transforming a mental
plan in familiar terms into one compatible with the computer." [1] Said another way,
programming is the craft of transforming requirements into something that a computer can
execute.

[edit] Overview
Wikiversity has learning materials about programming

Within software engineering, programming (the implementation) is regarded as one phase in a

software development process.

There is an ongoing debate on the extent to which the writing of programs is an art, a craft or an
engineering discipline.[2] In general, good programming is considered to be the measured
application of all three, with the goal of producing an efficient and evolvable software solution
(the criteria for "efficient" and "evolvable" vary considerably). The discipline differs from many
other technical professions in that programmers, in general, do not need to be licensed or pass
any standardized (or governmentally regulated) certification tests in order to call themselves
"programmers" or even "software engineers." However, representing oneself as a "Professional
Software Engineer" without a license from an accredited institution is illegal in many parts of the
world.[citation needed] However, because the discipline covers many areas, which may or may not
include critical applications, it is debatable whether licensing is required for the profession as a
whole. In most cases, the discipline is self-governed by the entities which require the
programming, and sometimes very strict environments are defined (e.g. United States Air Force
use of AdaCore and security clearance).

Another ongoing debate is the extent to which the programming language used in writing
computer programs affects the form that the final program takes. This debate is analogous to that
surrounding the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis [3] in linguistics, which postulates that a particular
spoken language's nature influences the habitual thought of its speakers. Different language
patterns yield different patterns of thought. This idea challenges the possibility of representing
the world perfectly with language, because it acknowledges that the mechanisms of any language
condition the thoughts of its speaker community.

[edit] History
See also: History of programming languages

Wired plug board for an IBM 402 Accounting Machine.

The Antikythera mechanism from ancient Greece was a calculator utilizing gears of various sizes
and configuration to determine its operation,[4] which tracked the metonic cycle still used in
lunar-to-solar calendars, and which is consistent for calculating the dates of the Olympiads.[5] Al-
Jazari built programmable Automata in 1206. One system employed in these devices was the use
of pegs and cams placed into a wooden drum at specific locations. which would sequentially
trigger levers that in turn operated percussion instruments. The output of this device was a small
drummer playing various rhythms and drum patterns.[6][7] The Jacquard Loom, which Joseph
Marie Jacquard developed in 1801, uses a series of pasteboard cards with holes punched in them.
The hole pattern represented the pattern that the loom had to follow in weaving cloth. The loom
could produce entirely different weaves using different sets of cards. Charles Babbage adopted
the use of punched cards around 1830 to control his Analytical Engine. The synthesis of
numerical calculation, predetermined operation and output, along with a way to organize and
input instructions in a manner relatively easy for humans to conceive and produce, led to the
modern development of computer programming. Development of computer programming
accelerated through the Industrial Revolution.

In the late 1880s, Herman Hollerith invented the recording of data on a medium that could then
be read by a machine. Prior uses of machine readable media, above, had been for control, not
data. "After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on punched cards..."[8] To process these
punched cards, first known as "Hollerith cards" he invented the tabulator, and the keypunch
machines. These three inventions were the foundation of the modern information processing
industry. In 1896 he founded the Tabulating Machine Company (which later became the core of
IBM). The addition of a control panel (plugboard) to his 1906 Type I Tabulator allowed it to do
different jobs without having to be physically rebuilt. By the late 1940s, there were a variety of
plug-board programmable machines, called unit record equipment, to perform data-processing
tasks (card reading). Early computer programmers used plug-boards for the variety of complex
calculations requested of the newly invented machines.

Data and instructions could be stored on external punched cards, which were kept in order and
arranged in program decks.

The invention of the von Neumann architecture allowed computer programs to be stored in
computer memory. Early programs had to be painstakingly crafted using the instructions
(elementary operations) of the particular machine, often in binary notation. Every model of
computer would likely use different instructions (machine language) to do the same task. Later,
assembly languages were developed that let the programmer specify each instruction in a text
format, entering abbreviations for each operation code instead of a number and specifying
addresses in symbolic form (e.g., ADD X, TOTAL). Entering a program in assembly language is
usually more convenient, faster, and less prone to human error than using machine language, but
because an assembly language is little more than a different notation for a machine language, any
two machines with different instruction sets also have different assembly languages.

In 1954, FORTRAN was invented; it was the first high level programming language to have a
functional implementation, as opposed to just a design on paper.[9][10] (A high-level language is,
in very general terms, any programming language that allows the programmer to write programs
in terms that are more abstract than assembly language instructions, i.e. at a level of abstraction
"higher" than that of an assembly language.) It allowed programmers to specify calculations by
entering a formula directly (e.g. Y = X*2 + 5*X + 9). The program text, or source, is converted
into machine instructions using a special program called a compiler, which translates the
FORTRAN program into machine language. In fact, the name FORTRAN stands for "Formula
Translation". Many other languages were developed, including some for commercial
programming, such as COBOL. Programs were mostly still entered using punched cards or paper
tape. (See computer programming in the punch card era). By the late 1960s, data storage devices
and computer terminals became inexpensive enough that programs could be created by typing
directly into the computers. Text editors were developed that allowed changes and corrections to
be made much more easily than with punched cards. (Usually, an error in punching a card meant
that the card had to be discarded and a new one punched to replace it.)

As time has progressed, computers have made giant leaps in the area of processing power. This
has brought about newer programming languages that are more abstracted from the underlying
hardware. Although these high-level languages usually incur greater overhead, the increase in
speed of modern computers has made the use of these languages much more practical than in the
past. These increasingly abstracted languages typically are easier to learn and allow the
programmer to develop applications much more efficiently and with less source code. However,
high-level languages are still impractical for a few programs, such as those where low-level
hardware control is necessary or where maximum processing speed is vital.

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, programming was an attractive career in
most developed countries. Some forms of programming have been increasingly subject to
offshore outsourcing (importing software and services from other countries, usually at a lower
wage), making programming career decisions in developed countries more complicated, while
increasing economic opportunities in less developed areas. It is unclear how far this trend will
continue and how deeply it will impact programmer wages and opportunities.

[edit] Modern programming

This section relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article
by introducing appropriate citations to additional sources. (August 2010)
[edit] Quality requirements

Whatever the approach to software development may be, the final program must satisfy some
fundamental properties. The following properties are among the most relevant:

 Efficiency/performance: the amount of system resources a program consumes

(processor time, memory space, slow devices such as disks, network bandwidth and to
some extent even user interaction): the less, the better. This also includes correct disposal
of some resources, such as cleaning up temporary files and lack of memory leaks.
 Reliability: how often the results of a program are correct. This depends on conceptual
correctness of algorithms, and minimization of programming mistakes, such as mistakes
in resource management (e.g., buffer overflows and race conditions) and logic errors
(such as division by zero or off-by-one errors).
 Robustness: how well a program anticipates problems not due to programmer error. This
includes situations such as incorrect, inappropriate or corrupt data, unavailability of
needed resources such as memory, operating system services and network connections,
and user error.
 Usability: the ergonomics of a program: the ease with which a person can use the
program for its intended purpose, or in some cases even unanticipated purposes. Such
issues can make or break its success even regardless of other issues. This involves a wide
range of textual, graphical and sometimes hardware elements that improve the clarity,
intuitiveness, cohesiveness and completeness of a program's user interface.
 Portability: the range of computer hardware and operating system platforms on which
the source code of a program can be compiled/interpreted and run. This depends on
differences in the programming facilities provided by the different platforms, including
hardware and operating system resources, expected behaviour of the hardware and
operating system, and availability of platform specific compilers (and sometimes
libraries) for the language of the source code

 Maintainability: the ease with which a program can be modified by its present or future
developers in order to make improvements or customizations, fix bugs and security holes,
or adapt it to new environments. Good practices during initial development make the
difference in this regard. This quality may not be directly apparent to the end user but it
can significantly affect the fate of a program over the long term.

[edit] Algorithmic complexity

The academic field and the engineering practice of computer programming are both largely
concerned with discovering and implementing the most efficient algorithms for a given class of
problem. For this purpose, algorithms are classified into orders using so-called Big O notation,
O(n), which expresses resource use, such as execution time or memory consumption, in terms of
the size of an input. Expert programmers are familiar with a variety of well-established
algorithms and their respective complexities and use this knowledge to choose algorithms that
are best suited to the circumstances.

[edit] Methodologies
The first step in most formal software development projects is requirements analysis, followed
by testing to determine value modeling, implementation, and failure elimination (debugging).
There exist a lot of differing approaches for each of those tasks. One approach popular for
requirements analysis is Use Case analysis.

Popular modeling techniques include Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) and Model-
Driven Architecture (MDA). The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a notation used for both
the OOAD and MDA.

A similar technique used for database design is Entity-Relationship Modeling (ER Modeling).

Implementation techniques include imperative languages (object-oriented or procedural),

functional languages, and logic languages.

[edit] Measuring language usage

It is very difficult to determine what are the most popular of modern programming languages.
Some languages are very popular for particular kinds of applications (e.g., COBOL is still strong
in the corporate data center, often on large mainframes, FORTRAN in engineering applications,
scripting languages in web development, and C in embedded applications), while some
languages are regularly used to write many different kinds of applications.

Methods of measuring programming language popularity include: counting the number of job
advertisements that mention the language,[11] the number of books teaching the language that are
sold (this overestimates the importance of newer languages), and estimates of the number of
existing lines of code written in the language (this underestimates the number of users of
business languages such as COBOL).

[edit] Debugging

A bug, which was debugged in 1947.

Debugging is a very important task in the software development process, because an incorrect
program can have significant consequences for its users. Some languages are more prone to
some kinds of faults because their specification does not require compilers to perform as much
checking as other languages. Use of a static analysis tool can help detect some possible
problems.

Debugging is often done with IDEs like Eclipse, Kdevelop, NetBeans, and Visual Studio.
Standalone debuggers like gdb are also used, and these often provide less of a visual
environment, usually using a command line.

[edit] Programming languages

Main articles: Programming language and List of programming languages

Different programming languages support different styles of programming (called programming

paradigms). The choice of language used is subject to many considerations, such as company
policy, suitability to task, availability of third-party packages, or individual preference. Ideally,
the programming language best suited for the task at hand will be selected. Trade-offs from this
ideal involve finding enough programmers who know the language to build a team, the
availability of compilers for that language, and the efficiency with which programs written in a
given language execute. Languages form an approximate spectrum from "low-level" to "high-
level"; "low-level" languages are typically more machine-oriented and faster to execute, whereas
"high-level" languages are more abstract and easier to use but execute less quickly.

Allen Downey, in his book How To Think Like A Computer Scientist, writes:

The details look different in different languages, but a few basic instructions appear in
just about every language:

 input: Get data from the keyboard, a file, or some other device.
 output: Display data on the screen or send data to a file or other device.
 arithmetic: Perform basic arithmetical operations like addition and
multiplication.
 conditional execution: Check for certain conditions and execute the appropriate
sequence of statements.
 repetition: Perform some action repeatedly, usually with some variation.

Many computer languages provide a mechanism to call functions provided by libraries. Provided
the functions in a library follow the appropriate run time conventions (e.g., method of passing
arguments), then these functions may be written in any other language.

[edit] Programmers
Main article: Programmer
See also: Software developer and Software engineer

Computer programmers are those who write computer software. Their jobs usually involve:
  Coding
 Compilation
 Debugging
 Documentation
 Integration
 Maintenance
 Requirements analysis
 Software architecture
 Software testing
 Specification

[edit] See also

Book:Programming
Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered
in print.
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Programming
Main article: Outline of computer programming

 ACCU
 Association for Computing Machinery
 Computer programming in the punch card era
 Hello world program
 List of basic computer programming topics
 List of computer programming topics
 Programming paradigms
 Software engineering
 The Art of Computer Programming

[edit] References
1. ^ Hoc, J.-M. and Nguyen-Xuan, A. Language semantics, mental models and analogy. J.-M. Hoc
et al., Eds. Psychology of Programming. Academic Press. London, 1990, 139–156, cited through
Brad A. Myers , John F. Pane , Andy Ko, Natural programming languages and environments,
Communications of the ACM, v.47 n.9, September 2004
2. ^ Paul Graham (2003). Hackers and Painters. [Link] Retrieved
2006-08-22.
3. ^ Kenneth E. Iverson, the originator of the APL programming language, believed that the Sapir–
Whorf hypothesis applied to computer languages (without actually mentioning the hypothesis by
name). His Turing award lecture, "Notation as a tool of thought", was devoted to this theme,
arguing that more powerful notations aided thinking about computer algorithms. Iverson
K.E.,"Notation as a tool of thought", Communications of the ACM, 23: 444-465 (August 1980).
4. ^ "Ancient Greek Computer's Inner Workings Deciphered". National Geographic News.
November 29, 2006.
5. ^ Freeth, Tony; Jones, Alexander; Steele, John M.; Bitsakis, Yanis (July 31, 2008). "Calendars
with Olympiad display and eclipse prediction on the Antikythera Mechanism". Nature 454
 (7204): 614–617. doi:10.1038/nature07130. PMID 18668103.
[Link]
6. ^ A 13th Century Programmable Robot, University of Sheffield
7. ^ Fowler, Charles B. (October 1967). "The Museum of Music: A History of Mechanical
Instruments". Music Educators Journal (Music Educators Journal, Vol. 54, No. 2) 54 (2): 45–49.
doi:10.2307/3391092. [Link]
8. ^ "Columbia University Computing History - Herman Hollerith". [Link].
[Link] Retrieved 2010-04-25.
9. ^ 12:10 p.m. ET (2007-03-20). "Fortran creator John Backus dies - Tech and gadgets-
[Link]". MSNBC. [Link] Retrieved 2010-04-25.
10. ^ "CSC-302 99S : Class 02: A Brief History of Programming Languages". [Link].
[Link] Retrieved
2010-04-25.
11. ^ Survey of Job advertisements mentioning a given language>

[edit] Further reading

 Weinberg, Gerald M., The Psychology of Computer Programming, New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold, 1971

[edit] External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
Computer programming
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
Windows Programming

 Programming Wikia
 How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey and Chris
Meyers

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