Basics of Programming

basic concepts
A computer program is a collection of instructions that aims to solve a par-
ticular problem using algorithms.

Instruction Set: Basic operation that a computer system form

Program: A collection of instructions to solve a problem

Algorithm: The method to solve the problem

Language Levels:

Machine Language: binary instructions that can be executed by com-

puter systems.

Assembly Language: symbolic representation of the binary machine

instruction.

High Level Language: portable language that independent of specific

machine instructions.

Translation Software:

Compiler: High-level language to assembly.

Assembler: Assembly language to machine instructions.

building process
The building process is a process that compiling and linking a program. The
input to the building process is the source code in high level language and
the output is the executable code in binary machine language. A typical
building process includes the following steps as shown in Figure 1

Step One: Syntax and Semantics Checking

Step Two: Statement Translation to Assembly Language (Compiler)

Step Three: Assembly Translation to Machine Instruction (Assembler)

Step Four: Linking to Library or Object Programs

The executable object is stored in another file on the computer system. Fi-
nally, a linked object code needs to be loaded to the memory and initiated
the execution.

Source Compiler Assembly Object Excutable

Code Assembler Code Linker Code
Code

High Level Language Assembly Language Machine Language Machine Language

Figure 1: Building Process