1. What is a program?

• A detailed set of instructions, step by step, that tells the computer what to do.

• If we change the program, the computer will do something different

• The computer remains the same, but the program has changed.

• Programs are executed.

• Software (programs) controls hardware.

• The process of creating software is called programming.

• An algorithm is a step-by-step recipe for solving a computational problem.

1.1. Programming languages

• Low-level languages are the closest to the machine:

  • Assembler:

    • Load the number of variables A into the CPU.

    • Load the number of variables B into the CPU.

    • Add the two numbers in the CPU.

    • Store the result in variable C.

• Original high-level language command: C = A + B.

• Compilers convert high-level language to specific computer machine language.

• Interpreters parse and execute the program instruction by instruction in the computer’s machine language.

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