Introduction

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 This unit covers the basics of programming languages.  The topics listed here apply to today's most modern languages.  You will learn the definition of programming, the available programming languages, and the developer tools to be used.

 Educational goals

 During this unit, you will be able to:

 Explore the concept of programming.

 Understand what high-level and low-level programming languages are.

 Know the basic elements of the program.

 Learn about the software and tools used by professional developers.

What is programming?

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 Programming (also known as writing code) is the process of writing instructions to a device, such as a computer or mobile device.

 We write these instructions using a programming language, which is then interpreted by the machine.  These sets of instructions can be referred to by different names.  Among the few common names are program, computer program, application, and executable.

 a program

 A program can be anything written using code.  Some examples of software running on different devices are:

 websites

 the games

 phone applications

 Although it is possible to create a program without writing code, the underlying logic of the machine is interpreted and that logic was most likely written using code.  A program in which code is run or executed that carries out instructions.  The device you are currently using to read this unit is running software that displays it on your screens.

programming languages

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 The main purpose of programming languages is for developers to use them to build instructions to send to a device.

 Programming languages are a means of communication between humans and computers.  Devices can only understand binary characters 1 and 0.  For most developers, using only binary characters is not an effective way to communicate.

 Programming languages come in a variety of forms and can serve different purposes.  For example, JavaScript is primarily used for web applications, and Bash is primarily used for operating systems.

 Low level and high level languages

 In order to be interpreted by a machine, low-level languages usually require fewer steps than high-level languages.  However, what makes high-level languages popular is their readability and support.  JavaScript is a high-level language.

 The code in the next section explains the difference between a high-level language, such as JavaScript, and a low-level assembly language.