Computer programming

“ Given the exciting prospects for computer-based advanced automation in future missions, a program for more efficient, effective, and timely software development, management, and maintanance is mandatory. Principal software requirements are in the areas of programming languages, the software development environment, software validation, algorithm design, fault tolerance, and error recovery. Automatic programming should also be considered as a vehicle for improving the quality of software and the process of developing it. Data management. ”

“ If we do not interact with the computer via a primary programming language (Assembler or machine language) , I believe that it is impossible to find the principle of work of the computer either from in- or outside of it. ”

“ A programming language is a translation of a goal into a description of the logical processes through which the goal can be achieved. Computer users do not deal with the programming language; they address the computer through the language of interface: words in plain English (or any other language for which interface is designed) , or images standing for desired goals or operations. The entire machine does not speak or understand an interface's high-level language. The interaction of the user with the machine is translated by interface programs into whatever a machine can process. ”

“ In established fields of endeavor, a top-down approach to mission and system design usually provides the most manageable solution, especially in exceedingly complex situations. Top-down structured programming in computer science is one example where this approach is beneficial. Computer software systems contain literally millions of instructions. They are, to date, mankind's most complex artifacts. Self-replicating systems will contain very complex software, in addition to being the most complex autonomous mechanical systems ever devised. ”

“ HARDWARE The term applied to the computer equipment—the processor unit, the storage devices, input devices, printers, etc. Hardware is differentiated from "software" and "firmware." INTERPRETER A computer program in the same general class as "assembler" and "compiler." All three INTERPRETER (cont'd) translate or change a programmer's source code into the object code that the computer uses. LANGUAGE In the computer field, the term generally means a programming language used by a programmer for writing a computer pro­gram. ”

“ The digital image, it maintains, can be represented in different computer languages using different techniques. This comment also states that no distinction is drawn at the machine language level between data and instructions. In general purpose programming languages, the surface separation between data and algorithms is for the ease of human programmers. ”

“ Software developed by a computer manufacturer usually takes advantage of the peculiarities of his own peripherals. If an outside device is purchased, the additional cost for programming during the lifetime of the system should be considered. If competent engineering effort is available, an interface compatible with the computer manufacturer's software may be built, with a possible saving in programming cost. ”

“ When you were working on a machine like the TX-0, which came with almost no software, everyone would furiously write systems programs to make programming easier—Tools to Make Tools, kept in the drawer by the console for easy access by anyone using the machine. ”

“ When companies order an IBM 1401 Data Processing System, methods-programming staffs are given the responsibility of translating the requirements of management into finished applications. 1401 Programming Systems are helping cut the costs of getting the computer into operation by simplifying and expediting the work of these methods staffs. ”

“ Describes a primitive programming style, one in which the programmer relies on the computer's processing power instead of using his or her own intelligence to simplify the problem, often ignoring problems of scale and applying naive methods suited to small problems directly to large ones. ”

“ We locked ourselves in his room with his computer and the code for indienet and we embarked on one of the great all-time marathon programming sessions. Once Jolu's family went to bed around 11:30, we were able to kidnap the coffee-machine up to his room and go IV with our magic coffee bean supply.
If you've never programmed a computer, you should. There's nothing like it in the whole world. When you program a computer, it does exactly what you tell it to do. It's like designing a machine -- any machine, like a car, like a faucet, like a gas-hinge for a door -- using math and instructions. ”

“ Files that use proprietary formats, such as word-processing programs, spreadsheets, database programs, etc. These files contain formatting (like italics, underlines, etc.) and perhaps graphics, and other goodies beyond the simple text.
2. "Application Programs". These are programs written in (the binary) machine language that your computer understands. They are "compiled" from text files of "source code" written in a programming language. Vendors almost never make their source code available—except for free software, which you may have to compile yourself. ”

“ Chances are that in the long run true logic will prevail, and instead of us confusing the computer it will manage instead to organize our grammar into the more efficient tool it should be. With proper programming, the computer may even be able to retain sufficient humor and nuance to make talk interesting and colorful as well as utilitarian. ”

“ New computer hardware, unadorned with such snares and delusions as an {operating system}, an {HLL}, or even assembler. Commonly used in the phrase `programming on the bare metal', which refers to the arduous work of {bit bashing} needed to create these basic tools for a new machine. Real bare-metal programming involves things like building boot proms and BIOS chips, implementing basic monitors used to test device drivers, and writing the assemblers that will be used to write the compiler back ends that will give the new machine a real development environment. ”

“ Whenever a new type of device is interfaced to a system, some form of machine-language programming must almost always be done in order to permit the handling of input-output operations involving the new device. ”

“ Yet, as my little thought experiment above has hopefully made clear, the programmable web is anything but a pipe dream—it is today’s reality and tomorrow’s banality. No software developer will remain content to limit themselves only to things on the user’s own computer. And no web site developer will be content to limit their site only to users who act with it directly. ”

“ Using the tidy format makes this distinction clearer. One axiom about the structure of data and code holds that one should “write code for humans, write data for computers” [ [23] ] . When data can be easily imported and manipulated using familiar software (whether via a scripting language, a spreadsheet, or any other computer program that can import these common files) , data becomes easier to re-use. Furthermore, having the source code for the software doing the analysis available provides provenance for how the data is processed and analyzed. ”

“ In one sense, such devices are computationally universal. That is, certain mathematical technicalities aside, they can carry out any arbitrary Turing machine computation and, accepting the Church-Turing Thesis, can also carry out any algorithmic process. Thus, if any machine can be intelligent one need look no further than to a general-purpose computer, for there is some program which will cause the machine to display the desired intelligent behavior. This is so even if one insists that brains, for example, are machines, but are not at all like digital computers. ”

“ Programmers are likely to be men—or women, for there is no sex barrier in this new profession—who revel in symbolic logic and heuristic or “hunch” reasoning. Without a program, the computer is an impressively elaborate and frighteningly expensive contraption which cannot tell one number from another. The day may come when the mathematician can say to the machine, “Prove Fermat’s last theorem for me, please,” or the engineer simply wish aloud for a ceramic material that melts at 15,000° C. and weighs slightly less than Styrofoam. ”

“ Sometimes program bumming became competitive, a macho contest to prove oneself so much in command of the system that one could recognize elegant shortcuts to shave off an instruction or two, or, better yet, rethink the whole problem and devise a new algorithm which would save a whole block of instructions. (An algorithm is a specific procedure which one can apply to solve a complex computer problem; it is sort of a mathematical skeleton key.) ”

“ To further compound excuses for the foot-dragging engineer, there was a difference in needs in payroll computation and scientific mathematical calculation. Commercial computers are designed for a high rate of input and output, with a relatively slow arithmetic going on inside. The engineer, on the other hand, might need only several minutes of computer time, but it could take him a couple of days to put the problem into a form the machine could digest. ”

“ Algorithm - A procedure for accomplishing a given result by proceeding on a logical step-by-step basis. Computer programs and N/C routines for machine tools are developed this way.
Analog - Computers of this type are designed to respond and control continuous process operations such as flows, temperatures, or other infinitely variable-type operations. Digital computers process only discrete digital data.
Automatic - Functioning in a predefined manner with a minimum of reprogrammability; possesses only limited process information closure. ”

“ For the purposes of subsection (2) (c) , a person uses a program if the function he causes the computer to perform—
(a) causes the program to be executed; or (b) is itself a function of the program. (4) For the purposes of subsection (2) (d) , the form in which any program or data is output (and in particular whether or not it represents a form in which, in the case of a program, it is capable of being executed or, in the case of data, it is capable of being processed by a computer) is immaterial. ”

“ Computers are a vital part of automation, and already they are running production lines and railroads, making mechanical drawings and weather predictions, and figuring statistics for insurance companies as well as odds for gamblers. Electronic machines permit the blind to read a page of ordinary type, and also control material patterns in knitting mills. This last use is of particular interest since it represents almost a full circle in computer science. ”

“ Making up the program for the teaching machine is a difficult task and requires the services of technical expert, psychologist, and programmer. An English-like language is used in preparing a CLASS program for the computer. Put on magnetic tape, the program goes into the memory of the computer and is called out by proper responses from the student as he progresses through the lesson. ”

“ One person serves as operator and programmer (for simple jobs) . He also transports magnetic tapes to the computing center for off-line data processing and performs smaller tasks. The average user does not need to do any programming.
e. Fortunately, the people who have written most of the programs have remained in attendance and have updated the programs frequently. Machine-language programming has not proved to be a bad chore because the system is a fixed-hardware setup. ”

“ As a minimum, you should note the exact names and versions of the main programs you use.
Rule 4: Version Control All Custom Scripts Even the slightest change to a computer program can have large intended or unintended consequences. When a continually developed piece of code (typically a small script) has been used to generate a certain result, only that exact state of the script may be able to produce that exact output, even given the same input data and parameters. ”

“ Not all hardware and software are compatible. In fact, hundreds of producers of computer equipment and computer programs are in the market, and there are few across-the-board standards. So it's important to get hardware and software that are compatible.
Software, or the computer programs themselves, are not like records that can be played on any record player. They have to be compatible with the hardware in terms of the programing language used, operating system, size, format, and other factors. ”

“ Recent developments in machine intelligence research has made far easier the complete automation of the entire design process. Ultimately, the capability will exist for a human to carry on a dialog with a computer system in which the person merely defines the functional specifications of the desired product and the computer determines the remaining design details autonomously. ”

“ Don't underestimate the amount of time and effort it will require to collect data, make sure it's accurate, enter the data, and run the analyses.
It's important to consider how user-friendly the computer is, and how much the computer's software will do to guide you through the analysis.
A computer will do calculations very quickly, perhaps saving hours of laborious figuring. A computer will store information from one time period to the next, and recalculate alternatives quickly. By making the information available, it will help you identify strong and weak points in your operation. ”