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Re: Low-level vs. High-level programming (was My First Computer)
- Subject: Re: Low-level vs. High-level programming (was My First Computer)
- From: wildstar <wildstar128@hotmail.com>
- Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 19:15:58 -0000
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Richard Brady <rrllbrrady@worrlldnet.att.net> wrote in
3EF962CB.9070909@worrlldnet.att.net:">news:3EF962CB.9070909@worrlldnet.att.net:
> Introduction to Computers and Data Processing by Shelley & Cashman,
> 1980: A program can be defined as a series of instructions which
> directs the coputer to perform a sequesce of tasks that produce a
> desired result. The Home Computer Handbook by Schlossberg, Brockman
> and Horton, 1978: program [is] a set of instructions arranged in a
> specific sequence for directing the execution of a specific task or
> the solution of a problem by a computer.
> Introduction to Computer Programming with the BASIC Language by
> Deitel, 1977: Computer programming is the process of instructing the
> computer to utilize its various mechanisms to solve specific problems.
<<< snip >>>
Nicely stated but was written in a form and manner that would be
understood but that is a definition which misses a common and very
fundamental piece of information. To start with, a programming language
is a language used to create those series of instruction but the
fundamental part of the definition of a programming language has to
really do to what the end result is. That is "What is a program". When
they where describing a series of instructions to perform a desired
result. That implies a lot more and that results of what they where
talking about and those instructions are what makes up a programming
language. It is not easy to define what a programming language is to full
accuracy if you are not experienced in programming language. It is an
interesting thought by a webbrowser/HTML viewer often instructs itself
what to do. HTML in an abstract and basing on generic interpretation
without taking into account the fundamental building blocks of a program
can be thought of or construed as a programming language. Yet, in the
field - definitions are often refined to take into account these things
and simply leave HTML as a computer language and not a computer
programming language. HTML does not program the computer nor does it
create sequences of instructions that are to instruct the computer to
perform tasks.