Basic Programming Concepts

By
Adnan Amin
Lecturer / Software Programmer
Ministry of Education
www.geoamins.com

Topic: Introduction to Programming

Lesson #: 01
By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software
Programmer) 1
Overview
 Introduction to Programming?

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 2
 Introduction to programming

 Computer.
 Program.
 Programming.
 Computer Programming.
 Programming Languages.
 Programmers / Coders.
 Levels of Programming languages.

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Programmer) 3
 Introduction to programming
1. Computer
 
 One that computes: a programmable 
electronic device that can store, retrieve, 
and process data.  
 
(Merriam‐Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)

4
By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software Programmer)
 Introduction to programming
2. Program or Computer Program
 A sequence of instructions to be performed
by a computer is called computer program.
 Nowadays computers are able to perform many different tasks, from
simple mathematical operations to sophisticated animated simulations.
But the computer does not create these tasks by itself, these are
performed following a series of predefined instructions that conform
what we call a program.

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 5
 Introduction to programming
3. Programming.
 Planning or scheduling the performance
of a task or an event.

4. Computer Programming.
•The process of planning a sequence of
steps for a computer to follow.

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 6
 Introduction to programming

5. Programming Languages.
 A set of rules, symbols, and special words
used to construct a computer program.

6. Programmers / Coders.
 Those in charge of generating or creating
programs so that the computers may perform
new tasks are known as programmers or
coders, who for that purpose use a
programming language.
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Programmer) 7
Programming Languages. (PL)
 PL is divided into following parts.

PL

Low Mid High

Level Level Level
PL PL PL

i. Low Level Programming Languages.

ii. Middle Level Programming Languages.
iii. High Level Programming Languages.
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Programmer) 8
 Programming Languages. (PL)
What’s Level?
 When choosing a programming language to
make a project, many different considerations
can be taken. First, one must decide what is
known as the level of the programming
language.

 The level determines how near to the

hardware the programming language is

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Programmer) 9
 Programming Languages. (PL)
i. Low Level PL.
 In the lower level languages, instructions are
written thinking directly on interfacing with
hardware.

 Advantages
◦ Directly understood by machine.
◦ Very Fast.
◦ Easily handle the hardware.
 Disadvantages
◦ Very difficult for programmer.
 Examples
◦ Machine Languages, Assembly By:
Languages
Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software
Programmer) 10
 Programming Languages. (PL)
 Machine Language
 The language, made up of binary-coded instructions,
that is used directly by the computer.
 Assembly Language
 A low-level programming language in which a
mnemonic is used to represent each of the machine
language instructions for a particular computer.

Practical Example of Low Level PL

 When a hardware driver is developed for an
operating system obviously a very low level is
used for programming.
By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software
Programmer) 11
 Programming Languages. (PL)
ii. High Level PL.
 In High Level PL, instructions are written in more
abstract or conceptual programming code for more
different machines with a smaller modification.
 It is used very easy and human understandable codes.
like coding in English.

 Advantages
◦ Programmer / Human can easily understand the code.
◦ Its used to developed very big applications.
 Disadvantages
◦ Slow as compare to low level PL.
◦ Need a translator because it can’t directly understood by machine.
 Examples
◦ Java ,Visual Studio.Net etc
By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software
Programmer) 12
 Programming Languages. (PL)
iii. Middle Level PL.
 It can inherent some features of the low level PL and some
features from high level PL.
 So Mid Level PL interacts directly with the hardware almost with
no limitations, and as well abstract or conceptual and work like
one of the most powerful high level languages.

 Advantages
◦ Directly interact with the hardware.
◦ Not too difficult codes used like low level.
◦ Used for Hardware interface as well as for big applications.
 Disadvantages
◦ Slow as compare to low level PL because of high level codes.
◦ Need a translator (High level code also can be used)
 Examples
◦ C language, C++ language.

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 13
 Programming Languages. (PL)
Practical Example of Mid Level PL
 The C++ language is in a middle position,
since it can interact directly with the
hardware almost with no limitations, and can
as well abstract lower layers and work like
one of the most powerful high level
languages.

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 14
Home Work
 Compare high level , mid level and low
level programming languages. And also
decide which programming language is
best with respect to following
characteristics;
 Speed, hardware programming, easy
coding and market demand.

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 15
References
 Visit and download this lecture from:
◦ www.geoamins.com/courses/
◦ www.cplusplus.com

By: Adnan Amin (Lecturer / Software

Programmer) 16