During the last Lesson …
We continued our discussion on
algorithms that we had started during the 16th
lecture
In particular, we looked at the building blocks that are used in all
algorithms
We also discussed the pseudo code and flowcharts for particular problems
In addition, we outlined the pros and cons of those two techniques
Last time we discussed what to implement
Today’s Lecture
Today we are going to discuss the tool that is used to implement SW
To understand the differences among low- & high-level, interpreted &
compiled, and structured &
object-oriented programming languages
To understand the role of programming languages in computing
WHAT IS PROGRAMING (CODING) ?
The process of telling the
computer what to do
TYPES OF PROGRAMS
Batch Programs
Event-Driven Programs
19.1 Batch Programs
These are typically started from a
shell (or automatically via a scheduler) and tend to follow a pattern
of:
Initialize internal data
Read input data
Process that data
Print or store results
Key feature: No user interaction with the computer while the program is
running
Programming Language
A vocabulary and set of
grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks
19.2 Event-Driven Programs
Examples: GUIs, microwave, camera
The system sends events to the program and the program responds to these
as they arrive.
Events can include things a user does - like clicking the mouse - or
things that the system itself does -
like updating the clock.
These programs generally work as follows:
Initialize the internal data
Wait for events to arrive
Identify an incoming event and react accordingly
Programming Language
A vocabulary and set of
grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks
All programs consists of:
Sequence of instructions
Conditionals
Loops
These may contain:
Data
Input/output (print, etc)
Operations (add, divide, etc)
Examples of Prog. Languages
Machine Language
Assembly Language (1956-63)
LISP (1956)
PL/1(1964)
BASIC (1964)
Pascal (1970)
Smalltalk (1972)
C (1972) Fortran (1957)
COBOL (1959)
Perl (1987)
VisualBasic (1991)
PowerBuilder
Ada(1983)
C++ (1983-85)
QBasic (1986 Java (1995)
JavaScript
C# (2001)
19.3 Types of Prog. Languages
High level Programming Languages
Low Level Programming Languages
High-level programming languages, while simple compared to human
languages, are more complex
than the languages the uP
actually understands, called
machine languages each different type of
microprocessors has its own unique machine language lying between
machine languages & high-level
languages are languages called Assembly languages
Assembly languages
are similar to machine languages,
but are easier to program in as they allow a
programmer to substitute names for numbers
Machine languages
consist of numbers only.
Regardless of what language you use, you eventually need to convert your
program into a language that
the computer can understand
4th-generation languages
High-level languages
Assembly languages
Machine languages
Two ways for doing that:
- compile the program or
- interpret the program
Interpreter
is a program that executes
instructions written in a high-level language
An interpreter translates high-level instructions into an intermediate
form, which it then executes. In
contrast, a compiler translates high-level instructions directly into
machine language
Compiled programs generally run faster than interpreted programs.
The advantage of an interpreter, however, is that it does not need to go
through the compilation stage
during which the whole of the high-level code is translated into machine
instructions in one go. This
process can be time-consuming if the program is long.
The interpreter can immediately execute high-level programs, without
waiting for the completion of the
translation process
The choice of which language to use can also depend on the:
-Type of computer the program is to run on,
- Expertise of the programmer
Interpreters
: immediate response, but execute
code slowly.
Compilers
: Takes longer to compile, but
super-fast execution.
Both interpreters and compilers are available for most high-level
languages.
However, BASIC
and
LISP
were especially designed to be
executed by an interpreter.
Why are there so many different programming languages?
What are the advantages of particular languages?
The question of which language is best is one that consumes a lot of
time and energy among computer
professionals
Every language has its strengths and weaknesses
-Can a single language have all
the good bits of other languages?
-Is there a perfect language?
-Do some good features force a language to also have bad features?
-What makes a feature good or bad?
-What makes a feature good or bad?
FORTRAN
is a particularly good language
for processing numerical data, but it does not lend itself
very well to large business programs
Pascal is very good for writing well-structured and readable programs,
but it is not as flexible as the C
programming language
C++ embodies powerful object-oriented features, but it is complex and
difficult to learn
What changes
in the field of computer languages
can we expect in the near future?
-Which programming language should you learn?
Should you learn more than one?
19.4 Programming SW Development
- SW Design Methodology ?
The set of (often flexible) rules
and guidelines a team of developers follow to construct reasonably
complex SW systems
19.5 Object Oriented Design
OO SW is all about objects: a
black box which receives messages & responds with those of its own
An object has 2 aspects:
State, also termed as properties, data
Example: For the bicycle: color, speed, pressure
Behaviors, also termed as methods, instructions
Example: For the same object: accelerate(), inflate()
In traditional design, these 2 aspects have been kept apart
The designer starts with any
component (object) of the system; designs it as an independent,
selfcontained
system, and then moves to the design of some other component . The
over-all system is put
together by fitting together a collection of these components.
Key feature: Details of the design of the component are kept independent
of the over-all system.
Benefit: It can be easily re-used in other systems: design once; use
multiple times
19.6 Structured Design
Also called top-down design
The designer starts by first conceiving a skeleton high-level design of
the system, and then starts
defining features of that over-all design in an ever-increasing detail
Making small changes in the functionality of the systems sometimes leads
to major re-design exercise
Structured design emphasizes separating a program's data from its
functionality
Separating data from functionality typically leads to SW that is
difficult to maintain & understand -
especially for large SW systems
19.7 Object-Oriented Languages
Programming languages specifically
designed to make it easy to implement object-oriented designs
Examples: Smalltalk, C++, Java
Programming Languages
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Programming_language
What is Object-Oriented Software?
http://catalog.com/softinfo/objects.html
VisualBasic: Taming the Wooly Mammoth
http://computer.org/software/so2000/pdf/s3016.pdf
During Today’s Lecture, We …
To understand the role of programming languages in computing
To understand the differences among low- & high-level, interpreted &
compiled, and structured &
object-oriented programming languages
Focus of the Next Lecture:
The SW Development Process
Development process of reasonably
complex SW systems does not consist of “coding” only
We will become familiar with the various phases of the process that
developers follow to develop SW
systems of reasonable complexity |