Computer Program

I

Introduction

Computer Program, set of instructions that directs a computer to perform some processing function or combination of functions. For the instructions to be carried out, a computer must execute a program, that is, the computer reads the program, and then follows the steps encoded in the program in a precise order until completion. A program can be executed many different times, with each execution yielding a potentially different result depending upon the options and data that the user gives the computer.

Programs fall into two major classes: application programs and operating systems. An application program is one that carries out some function directly for a user, such as word processing or game-playing. An operating system is a program that manages the computer and the various resources and devices connected to it, such as RAM (random access memory), hard drives, monitors, keyboards, printers, and modems, so that they may be used by other programs. Examples of operating systems are DOS, Windows 95, OS/2, and UNIX.

II

Program Development

Software designers create new programs by using special applications programs, often called utilityprograms or development programs. A programmer uses another type of program called a text editor to write the new program in a special notation called a programming language. With the text editor, the programmer creates a text file, which is an ordered list of instructions, also called the program source file. The individual instructions that make up the program source file are called source code. At this point, a special applications program translates the source code into machine language, or object code—a format that the operating system will recognize as a proper program and be able to execute.

Three types of applications programs translate from source code to object code: compilers, interpreters, and assemblers. The three operate differently and on different types of programming languages, but they serve the same purpose of translating from a programming language into machine language. See; Assembly Language.

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A compiler translates text files written in a high-level programming language—such as Fortran, C, or Pascal—from the source code to the object code all at once. This differs from the approach taken by interpreted languages such as BASIC, APL and LISP, in which a program is translated into object code statement by statement as each instruction is executed. The advantage to interpreted languages is that they can begin executing the program immediately instead of having to wait for all of the source code to be compiled. Changes can also be made to the program fairly quickly without having to wait for it to be compiled again. The disadvantage of interpreted languages is that they are slow to execute, since the entire program must be translated one instruction at a time, each time the program is run. On the other hand, compiled languages are compiled only once and thus can be executed by the computer much more quickly than interpreted languages. For this reason, compiled languages are more common and are almost always used in professional and scientific applications.

Another type of translator is the assembler, which is used for programs or parts of programs written in assembly language. Assembly language is another programming language, but it is much more similar to machine language than other types of high-level languages. In assembly language, a single statement can usually be translated into a single instruction of machine language. Today, assembly language is rarely used to write an entire program, but is instead most often used when the programmer needs to directly control some aspect of the computer’s function.

Programs are often written as a set of smaller pieces, with each piece representing some aspect of the overall application program. After each piece has been compiled separately, a program called a linker combines all of the translated pieces into a single executable program.

Programs seldom work correctly the first time, so a program called a debugger is often used to help find problems called bugs. Debugging programs usually detect an event in the executing program and point the programmer back to the origin of the event in the program code.

Recent programming systems, such as Java, use a combination of approaches to create and execute programs. A compiler takes a Java source program and translates it into an intermediate form. Such intermediate programs are then transferred over the Internet into computers where an interpreter program then executes the intermediate form as an application program.

III

Program Elements

Most programs are built from just a few kinds of steps that are repeated many times in different contexts and in different combinations throughout the program. The most common step performs some computation, and then proceeds to the next step in the program, in the order specified by the programmer.

Programs often need to repeat a short series of steps many times, for instance in looking through a list of game scores and finding the highest score. Such repetitive sequences of code are called loops.

One of the capabilities that makes computers so useful is their ability to make conditional decisions and perform different instructions based on the values of data being processed. If-then-else statements implement this function by testing some piece of data and then selecting one of two sequences of instructions on the basis of the result. One of the instructions in these alternatives may be a goto statement that directs the computer to select its next instruction from a different part of the program. For example, a program might compare two numbers and branch to a different part of the program depending on the result of the comparison:

Programs often use a specific sequence of steps more than once. Such a sequence of steps can be grouped together into a subroutine, which can then be called, or accessed, as needed in different parts of the main program. Each time a subroutine is called, the computer remembers where it was in the program when the call was made, so that it can return there upon completion of the subroutine. Preceding each call, a program can specify that different data be used by the subroutine, allowing a very general piece of code to be written once and used in multiple ways.

Most programs use several varieties of subroutines. The most common of these are functions, procedures, library routines, system routines, and device drivers. Functions are short subroutines that compute some value, such as computations of angles, which the computer cannot compute with a single basic instruction. Procedures perform a more complex function, such as sorting a set of names. Library routines are subroutines that are written for use by many different programs. System routines are similar to library routines but are actually found in the operating system. They provide some service for the application programs, such as printing a line of text. Device drivers are system routines that are added to an operating system to allow the computer to communicate with a new device, such as a scanner, modem, or printer. Device drivers often have features that can be executed directly as applications programs. This allows the user to directly control the device, which is useful if, for instance, a color printer needs to be realigned to attain the best printing quality after changing an ink cartridge.

IV

Program Function

Modern computers usually store programs on some form of magnetic storage media that can be accessed randomly by the computer, such as the hard drive disk permanently located in the computer, or a portable floppy disk. Additional information on such disks, called directories, indicate the names of the various programs on the disk, when they were written to the disk, and where the program begins on the disk media. When a user directs the computer to execute a particular application program, the operating system looks through these directories, locates the program, and reads a copy into RAM. The operating system then directs the CPU (central processing unit) to start executing the instructions at the beginning of the program. Instructions at the beginning of the program prepare the computer to process information by locating free memory locations in RAM to hold working data, retrieving copies of the standard options and defaults the user has indicated from a disk, and drawing initial displays on the monitor.

The application program requests a copy of any information the user enters by making a call to a system routine. The operating system converts any data so entered into a standard internal form. The application then uses this information to decide what to do next—for example, perform some desired processing function such as reformatting a page of text, or obtain some additional information from another file on a disk. In either case, calls to other system routines are used to actually carry out the display of the results or the accessing of the file from the disk.

When the application reaches completion or is prompted to quit, it makes further system calls to make sure that all data that needs to be saved has been written back to disk. It then makes a final system call to the operating system indicating that it is finished. The operating system then frees up the RAM and any devices that the application was using and awaits a command from the user to start another program.

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