A History of Computer Programming
If you’re in the job market in Southern California, finding web developer jobs in
In 1896, International Business Machines was founded as the Tabulating Machine Company, by Herman Hollerith. He expanded the use of punch cards and they were actually used to program computers all the way through the 1970’s. The punch card was a major advance in the science of computing, as for the first time the whole machine didn’t have to be reconfigured to run a variety of programs.
In 1954, the first high-level programming language- Fortran- came on the scene. This was a major step forward as it allowed programmers to enter instructions in algebraic terms; these instructions were then converted by a compiler into machine language used by the computer to carry out calculations. At this point most programs were still entered into computers using punch cards or long strips of “tape”. By the end of the 1960s, computers had advanced to the point where instructions could be directly typed into the machine itself, due to advances/cost decreases in memory and parts.
Time marches on, and computers aren’t immune to the effects of time, either- computer programming languages nowadays work on quite an abstract level from their earlier counterparts. This means that more computer processing power is needed, but it also means an easier learning curve for new programmers, and simplification/streamlining of the process for experienced programmers. This has led to quite an increase in demand for programmers in developed countries, as the economy marches ever towards the service sector.
The five most important elements of any computer program are
- Efficiency: the amount of system resources a program consumes-the less the better.
- Reliability: how often the results of a program are correct.
- Robustness: how well a program anticipates situations of data type conflict and other incompatibilities that result in run time errors and program halts.
- Usability: the clarity and intuitiveness of a programs’ output can make or break it's success. This involves a wide range of textual and graphical elements that makes a program easy and comfortable to use.
- Portability: the range of hardware and OS platforms on which the source code of a program can be compiled and run.
The steps of development of a software program are usually:
- Requirements Analysis- what does the software need to do?
- Modeling- anticipating usage scenarios
- Implementation- bringing the software on line
- Failure Elimination- debugging and further testing
Bear these things in mind when you start you programming career- these are the most fundamental aspects of computer programming. Keep these things in mind when you search for a job in
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