A computer is a programmable machine. This means it can execute a programmed list of instructions and respond to new instructions that it is given. Computer Programming is the process of developing and implementing various sets of instructions to enable a computer to do a certain task. Computer programming is just another way that an exact set of instructions can be given in order to achieve an objective.
A program is a set of instructions following the rules of the chosen language.Without programs, computers are useless. A program is like a recipe. It contains a list of ingredients (called variables) and a list of directions (called statements) that tell the computer what to do with the variables.
A vocabulary and set of grammatical rules (syntax) for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks. Programming languages can be used to create computer programs. The term programming language usually refers to high-level languages, such as BASIC, C, C++, COBOL, FORTRAN, Ada, and Pascal.
You eventually need to convert your program into machine language so that the computer can understand it.There are two ways to do this:
– Compile the program
– Interpret the program
Compile is to transform a program written in a high-level programming language from source code into object code.
•This can be done by using a tool called compiler.
•A compiler reads the whole source code and translates it into a complete machine code program to perform the required tasks which is output as a new file.
Interpreter is a program that executes instructions written in a high-level language. An interpreter reads the source code one instruction or line at a time,converts this line into machine code and executes it.
