CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

The word computer has become a common term in every activities of your daily routine. Whether you

are working in an office or participating in recreational activities, you use computers every day. Daily

activities – typing a report, driving a car, paying for goods and services with credit card, or using an

ATM – can involve the use of computers. Computers have become the tool people use to access and

provide information and communicate with others around the world.

What is a Computer?

A computer is an electronic machine, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own

memory that can accept data as input, manipulate the data according to specified rules and produces

the result as output.

Data means unorganized facts and figures. Data can include text, numbers, images and sounds. Simple

data cannot serve any useful purpose.

Data when processed we get information. Information is the organized facts and figures derived out of

data. Information has meaning and is useful.

1.1 GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER

Each generation increases in reliability, speed, efficiency and ease of use and decreases in cost & size.

1.1.1 The first Generation (1945 - 1955)

- Very large computers made up of vacuum tubes and often programmed using wiring plugboards

- Programmed using machine language

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- Mostly used for numerical calculations as working out mathematical tables

- No Operating Systems

1.1.2 The Second Generation (1955 - 1965)

- Mainframes made up of transistors

- Mainframes made up of transistors

- At first punch cards were used to provide input, then tapes were used (for batch processing)

- Used Assemblers and FORTRAN compilers for program writing

-Simple batch processing was used with input files, programs and output on tape

- Smaller computers (e.g. IBM 1401) were used to read programs and data on punch cards and to input

tapes and for offline printing

- Used mainly for scientific and engineering applications

- FMS (Fortran Monitor System) and IBM IBSYS as OSs for handling jobs (e.g. to read a job and to run it)

1.1.3 The Third Generation (1965 - 1980)

-Mainframes based on small scale ICs were used.

- Capable of multiprogramming (running several jobs at the same time)

- Fixed disks were used and new jobs on cards to be executed could be read on to the disk while executing

other jobs (spooling)

- Though the first models used multiprogrammed batch processing, to cater to increased response time,

timesharing was introduced later (Time-sharing Systems)

- Complex OSs as OS/360 were used.

- Used for various applications including scientific and business applications

- Mini computers also appeared on the market which were used by small departments etc. and became the

platform for UNIX.

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1.1.4 The Fourth Generation (1980 . . . )

- Mainframes, Minicomputers, Workstations, Personal Computers (Desktop and portable) based on VLSI

components

- Network operating systems that facilitate file sharing, remote logging etc. and Client Server computing.

- Distributed OSs that make use of multiple machines and processors to run applications.

- GUI based OS interfaces and applications.

- Virtual Machines and Network Computers (NCs)

Main Frame and Super Computers:

They consist of terminals. They have time sharing facilities. Super computer are high performance

Computers.

Micro Computer:

They are called desktop computers. They are used for intensive calculations e.g. laptop computers, note

book, hand-held computer, Palm top computer.

Dedicated or Special Purpose Computers:

They are called embedded (use for consumer good areas) systems. They are used in industry for controlling

robots. In these Computers, there are programs stored on a chip/micro chips, that can’t be changed. They

are called firm base.

Computer Connections: (Network revolutions)

In the network configurations main frame computers are used, using time sharing facilities e.g. personal

computes, using land or local area network.

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1.1.5 Computers commonly used today

Micro Computers:

Used by one person at a time. They are also called workstation. All high and desktop computer, are use for

intensive computation. Other examples are laptop computers, notebook, hand held (Palm top) computers.

Examples of Palm top computers are personal digital assistance, personal communicator.

Dedicated or Special Purpose Computers:

These are called embedded computers e.g. they are used in enhanced consumers areas (super market) for

calculating amount or for space inventory control. They are used in industry for controlling robots and

computer numerical.

Controlling Manufacturing Machine:

In this, a program is stored on a micro chip which cannot be changed and it is called firm ware which mean

a combination of hard ward and software.

1.2 Evolution of programming languages

A program is a sequence of instructions given to a computer in order to do a specific task. To write a

program we need a language. Programming languages have evolved tremendously since early 1950's and

this evolution has resulted in over hundreds of different languages being invented and used in the industry.

This revolution is needed as we can now instruct computers more easily and faster than ever before due to

technological advancement in hardware with fast processors like the 1.2GHz Pentium IV developed by

Intel®

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1.2.1 First generation languages

We start out with the first and second generation languages during the period of 1950-60, which to many

experienced programmers will say are machine and assembly languages. Programming language history

really began with the work of Charles Babbage in the early nineteenth century who developed automated

calculation for mathematical functions. Further developments in early 1950 brought us machine language

without interpreters and compilers to translate languages. Micro-code is an example of the first generation

language residing in the CPU written for doing multiplication or division. Computers then were

programmed in binary notation that was very prone to errors. A simple algorithm resulted in lengthy code.

This was then improved to mnemonic codes to represent operations.

1.2.2 Second generation Languages

Symbolic assembly codes came next in the mid 1950's, the second generation of programming language

like AUTOCODER, SAP and SPS. Symbolic addresses allowed programmers to represent memory

locations, variables and instructions with names. Programmers now had the flexibility not to change the

addresses for new locations of variables whenever they are modified. This kind of programming is still

considered fast and to program in machine language required high knowledge of the CPU and machine's

instruction set. This also meant high hardware dependency and lack of portability. Assembly or machine

code could not run on different machines. Example, code written for the Intel® Processor family would

look very different for code written for the Motorola 68X00 series. To convert would mean changing a

whole length of code.

1.2.3 Third generation languages

Throughout the early 1960's till 1980 saw the emergence of the third generation programming languages.

Languages like ALGOL 58, 60 and 68, COBOL, FORTRAN IV, ADA and C are examples of this and

were considered as high level languages. Most of this languages had compilers and the advantage of this

was speed. Independence was another factor as these languages were machine independent and could run

on different machines. The advantages of high level languages include the support for ideas of abstraction

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so that programmers can concentrate on finding the solution to the problem rapidly, rather than on low-

level details of data representation. The comparative ease of use and learning, improved portability and

simplified debugging, modifications and maintenance led to reliability and lower software costs.

1.2.4 Fourth generation languages

Features evident in fourth generation languages quite clearly are that it must be user friendly, portable and

independent of operating systems, usable by non-programmers, having intelligent default options about

what the user wants and allowing the user to obtain results fasts using minimum requirement code

generated with bug-free code from high-level expressions (employing a data-base and dictionary

management which makes applications easy and quick to change), which was not possible using COBOL

or PL/I. Standardisation however, in early stages of evolution can inhibit creativity in developing powerful

languages for the future. Examples of this generation of languages are IBM's ADRS2, APL, CSP and AS,

Power Builder, Access.

1.2.5 Fifth generation languages

The 1990's saw the developments of fifth generation languages like PROLOG, referring to systems used in

the field of artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic and neural network.. This means computers can in the future

have the ability to think for themselves and draw their own inferences using programmed information in

large databases. Complex processes like understanding speech would appear to be trivial using these fast

inferences and would make the software seem highly intelligent. In fact, these databases programmed in a

specialised area of study would show a significant expertise greater than humans. Also, improvements in

the fourth generation languages now carried features where users did not need any programming

knowledge. Little or no coding and computer aided design with graphics provides an easy to use product

that can generate new applications.

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1.3 A second look at procedure oriented languages

The procedure oriented languages are the third generation languages. In this type of languages the

programs are written as a sequence of instructions. To execute a procedure oriented program we need a

translator. A translator is a program that converts the source program into object program. There are two

basic types of translators available namely an interpreter and a compiler.

An interpreter is a translator that converts the source code into object code instruction by instruction. An

interpreter executes the code immediately when an instruction is free from syntax errors. An interpreter

does not require much memory to store the program. A compiler on the other hand translates the entire

program into the equivalent machine codes. After compilation it will list out the errors in the program. It

will execute the program only when all the errors are corrected. A compiler requires more memory.

However the compiler converts the source code into the object code only once and when the object code is

formed we can execute the program any number of times.

1.4 Structured Programming

Two mathematicians, Corrado Bohm and Guiseppe Jacopini proved that any computer program can be

written with the basic structures: sequence, selections and iterations This discovery led to the method of

modern programming known as structured programming.

A computer program is said to be structured, if it has a modular design and uses only the three

types of logical structures, sequence, selection and iteration.

Sequence: Statements are executed one after another.

Selection: One of two blocks of program code is executed based on a test for some condition.

Iteration: One or more statements are executed repeatedly as long as a specified condition is true.

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The logic of these three constructs is shown by the following figures.

Sequence Selection

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Iteration

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Advantages of Structured Programming

The goal of structured programming is to create correct programs that are easy to write,

understand and change.

1. Easy to write:

Modular design increases the programmer's productivity by allowing them to

look at the big picture first and focus on details later.

Several Programmers can work on a single, large program, each working on a

different module

Studies show structured programs take less time to write than standard

programs.

Procedures written for one program can be reused in other programs requiring

the same task. A procedure that can be used in many programs is said to be

reusable

2. Easy to debug

Since each procedure is specialized to perform just one task, a procedure can be

checked individually. Older unstructured programs consist of a sequence of

instructions that are not grouped for specific tasks. The logic of such programs is

cluttered with details and therefore difficult to follow.

3. Easy to Understand

The relationship between the procedures shows the modular design of the

program.

Meaningful procedure names and clear documentation identify the task

performed by each module/

Meaningful variable names help the programmer identify the purpose of each

variable.

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4. Easy to Change

Since a correctly written structured program is self-documenting, it can be easily

understood by another programmer.

1.5 Object Oriented Programming

The structured program design does not provide a way to keep the data and the program (the procedure)

together. Each program therefore has to define how it will use the data for that particular program. This can

result in redundant programming code that must change every time the structure of the data is changed. A

newer approach to developing software called the object-oriented approach eliminates this problem.

It is a nonprocedural approach, which means the programmer needs to specify what to do without

specifying how to do. Consequently coding programs in this approach requires much less time and effort on

the part of the programmer.

The chapters that follow this will cover in detail the Object Oriented Programming.

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