chapter 1

• Programming


  Computers performing tasks by following a series of predefined instructions that conform to what we call a program
• Programmer/Coder


  Person in charge of generating programs so that the computers may perform new tasks
• Programming language


  A set of instructions that order computers on what to do
• Programming language level


  • Determines how near to the hardware the programming language is
  • Lower level languages have instructions written thinking directly on interfacing with hardware
  • Higher level languages have more abstract or conceptual code
• Higher level code is more portable, meaning it can work in more different machines with a smaller number of modifications
• Lower level language is limited by the peculiarities of the hardware which it was written for
• Programming language level choice

  • Hardware driver program - very low level
  • Big applications - usually higher level or combination of low and high level
• C++


  • Can interact directly with the hardware almost with no limitations
  • Can work like one of the most powerful high level languages
• C++ characteristics


  • Portability
  • Brevity
  • Object-oriented programming
  • Modular programming
  • C Compatibility
  • Speed
• Many computer languages had come into existence, each meant for a specific purpose

  1960s
• Development of programming languages


  1. ALGOL 60 - too abstract and general(Developed by International Commitee)

  2. CPL - Combined programming language; too big with too many features, hard to learn and implement ( Developed at Cambridge)

  3. BCPL -Basic Combined Programming Language; less powerful and too specific (Martin Richards at cambri )

  4. B - too specific (Ken Thompson at AT & T’s Bell Labs)

  5. C - inherited features of B and CPL, added some new features (Dennis Ritchie)
• C++


  Evolved from C, extended with features to facilitate object oriented programming, created by Bjarne Stroustrup at AT&T
• Structure of a simple C++ program

  1. Source code

  2. Output
• // my first program in C++ - This is a comment line
• #include <iostream.h> - Directive for the preprocessor to include the iostream standard file
• main() function


  The point by where all C++ programs start their execution, contains the instructions to be executed first
• cout << "Hello World";


  Inserts a sequence of characters into the standard output stream (usually the screen)
• return 0;


  Causes the main function to finish, return code of 0 indicates the program worked as expected without errors
• Compiling a C++ program

  1. Edit Source Code

  2. Compile

  3. Link

  4. Run Program
• If the code compiles successfully, an object file is created. The object file is then linked to other object files and libraries required to create the executable.