FORTRAN, the first widely used high-level language to have a functional implementation, came out in 1957, and many other languages were soon developed-in particular, COBOL aimed at commercial data processing, and Lisp for computer research. The first compiler related tool, the A-0 System, was developed in 1952 by Grace Hopper, who also coined the term 'compiler'. High-level languages made the process of developing a program simpler and more understandable, and less bound to the underlying hardware.
Wired control panel for an IBM 402 Accounting Machine. However, because an assembly language is little more than a different notation for a machine language, two machines with different instruction sets also have different assembly languages.
Assembly languages were soon developed that let the programmer specify instruction in a text format (e.g., ADD X, TOTAL), with abbreviations for each operation code and meaningful names for specifying addresses. Machine code was the language of early programs, written in the instruction set of the particular machine, often in binary notation. However, with the concept of the stored-program computer introduced in 1949, both programs and data were stored and manipulated in the same way in computer memory.
Later a control panel (plug board) added to his 1906 Type I Tabulator allowed it to be programmed for different jobs, and by the late 1940s, unit record equipment such as the IBM 602 and IBM 604, were programmed by control panels in a similar way, as were the first electronic computers. In the 1880s Herman Hollerith invented the concept of storing data in machine-readable form. ĭata and instructions were once stored on external punched cards, which were kept in order and arranged in program decks. The first computer program is generally dated to 1843, when mathematician Ada Lovelace published an algorithm to calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, intended to be carried out by Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. He gave the first description of cryptanalysis by frequency analysis, the earliest code-breaking algorithm. In the 9th century, the Arab mathematician Al-Kindi described a cryptographic algorithm for deciphering encrypted code, in A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages. In 1801, the Jacquard loom could produce entirely different weaves by changing the "program" – a series of pasteboard cards with holes punched in them.Ĭode-breaking algorithms have also existed for centuries. In 1206, the Arab engineer Al-Jazari invented a programmable drum machine where a musical mechanical automaton could be made to play different rhythms and drum patterns, via pegs and cams. As early as the 9th century, a programmable music sequencer was invented by the Persian Banu Musa brothers, who described an automated mechanical flute player in the Book of Ingenious Devices. Programmable devices have existed for centuries. See also: Computer program § History, Programmer § History, and History of programming languages Reverse engineering is a related process used by designers, analysts, and programmers to understand and re-create/re-implement.
Software engineering combines engineering techniques with software development practices. These might be considered part of the programming process, but often the term software development is used for this larger process with the term programming, implementation, or coding reserved for the actual writing of code. Tasks accompanying and related to programming include testing, debugging, source code maintenance, implementation of build systems, and management of derived artifacts, such as the machine code of computer programs. Proficient programming thus usually requires expertise in several different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms, and formal logic. The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of instructions that will automate the performance of a task (which can be as complex as an operating system) on a computer, often for solving a given problem. The source code of a program is written in one or more languages that are intelligible to programmers, rather than machine code, which is directly executed by the central processing unit. Programming involves tasks such as analysis, generating algorithms, profiling algorithms' accuracy and resource consumption, and the implementation of algorithms in a chosen programming language (commonly referred to as coding). Computer programming is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific computing result or to perform a particular task.