Definition of Terms

Program: A computer program is a sequence of related

instruction (command) that tell the computer how to accomplish
a specific task. A program can also be defined as a set of
instruction that is executed by the CPU.
Programming: Programming is the act of writing computer
program. A computer program are written by trained and qualify
people called programmer.
Computer language: Computer language is a language used by,
or associated with the computer. The computer language consist
of 1’s and 0’s or binary
Computer Programming Language: This is a set of
grammatical rule or command for instructing a computer to
perform a specific task.
Programming language are needed to allow human and
computer communicate and execute tasks. Programming
language refer to high level language such as BASIC, C, C++ ,
COBOL, FORTRAN, ADA and PASCAL.
A set of rules governing how the words in the language are
written is called syntax and the meaning associated with each
word is called semantic.
Markup languages like HTML are generally not regarded as
programming languages, but they are computer language.
 Programming language foster the communication of programs
among programmers and computer; markup language
communicate the formatting or structure of document among
human and computer.
When programs are written in high level language, it must first
be converted into machine language before it is executed. It is
difficult to write programs in machine language because of
Mnemonic code is involved.
Types or Level Programming Language.
There are two levels of programming language

1.Low Level Language

a. Machine language

b. (Assembly Language)
2. High Level Language
   

1. Low level Language: A language that correspond directly to a

specific machine.

2. High level language: Any language that is independent of the

machine.

LOW LEVEL: Low level computer languages are either

machine codes or are very close to machine codes.
 a. Machine Language

A machine language is a language is a set of binary codes which

is used to direct the activities of the C.PU.

Advantages  
1. Machine language makes fast and efficient use of the
   
 
computer.
2. It requires no translator to translate the code. It is directly
   
 
understood by the computer.
 
Disadvantages
1. All operation codes have to be remembered
   

2. It is machine dependent
   

3. It is hard to amend or find errors in a program written in

   

the machine language.

It is a slightly friendly user language that directly correspond to
machine language. A program for translating low assembly
language is called assembler.

Advantages of Assembly Language

1. It is easily modified.
   

2. It is easy to locate and correct error

   

Disadvantages of Assembly Language

1. Assembly language, like machine code is also machine
   

dependent
2. Difficult to remember the syntax.
   

High Level Programming Language

These are formats similar to English.s

Examples of High Level Language include

a. PASCAL
    

b. BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)

   

c. C ++
    

d. Java
   

e. FORTRAN (Formula Translation)

    

f. COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

     

g. PROLOG
   

h. ALGOL (Algorithmic language)

   

i. APL (A Programming Language)

      

j. RPG (Report Program Generator)

      

k. Python
   

 
Advantages of High Level Language
1. It is easier to learn and use
   

2. It user friendly
   

3. It is easier to maintain
   

4. It is machine independent.
   
 Disadvantages of High Level Languages
1. It takes time to execute or run because it must first be translated
   

into machine code by a translator before it can be executed.

2.        Programmers need to remember a large set of syntax and
semantics
 

Comparison of Machine Language, Low Level Language

(assembly language) and High Level language
Language Characteristics

1. Machine Language
    1. Machine dependent
   

2. Uses special code and the assignment of storage

   

location
2. Low Level Language 1. Machine dependent
          

(Assembly language) 2. Uses mnemonics(symbolic operation code) and

   

operand (symbolic storage address)

3. 1 to 1 language
   

3. High Level Language 1. Machine independent

          

2. Uses instructions that seem English like

   

3. 1 to many language, i.e. for one high level

   

instruction, many machine level statement may be

generated.

Differences between High level language and Low level

languages
High level Language Low level language
1.they use human language They use machine languages
such as English and French of 0s and 1s.

2. It is easy to understand It is difficult to understand

3. It is easy to debug It is difficult to debug

4. It uses more memory. It uses less memory

Before a program is written, there must be a proper planning on

how the problem will be solved. The eight major step are as
follows:

1. Problem definition

2. Problem analysis

3. Symbolic representation

4. Program coding

5. Preparing data

6. Testing or running the program

7. Documentation
8. maintenance

1. Problem definition: the programmer is expected to

understand the problem. He/she should be able to know the
inputs to be used as well the output to be generated

2. Problem Analysis: The programmer should be able to

analyzed facts and figures which are necessary for
developing the program, The way in which the program
will be designed. Also, the language in which the program
will be most suitable.

3. Symbolic representation: Before writing a program, the

flow chart for the program must be written and tested
before the actual coding of the program.

Definition of Flow Chart: The flow chart is a

diagrammatical representation of the step by step method
involved in writing a given program.

Examples of flowchart symbols are

Terminal symbol

Input/output symbol

Decision box
 Processing box

Arrow
s

4. Coding: The next step after designing the algorithm is to

write the program in a high-level language. This process is
known as coding.

5. Preparing Data for input: Data are required for a program to

be processed for a desired result.

6. Testing and Running: The process of executing the program

to find out errors or bugs is called test execution. It helps a
programmer to check the logic of the program. It also
ensures that the program is error-free and workable.

7. Documentation: When the program is finalized, its

documentation is prepared. Final documentation is
provided to the user. It guides the user how to use the
program in the most efficient way. Furthermore, another
purpose of documentation is to allow other programmers to
modify the code if necessary. 

8. Maintenance: This is the process of updating a previously

written program for current use.
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