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EDU: [P-001a] ABGTP

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[P-001a] ABSOLUTE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO PROGRAMMING
[ TOC (Table Of Contents) ]



TEXTBOOKS:

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Second Edition
Copyright © 2001 by Que

Library of Congress CCN: 00-111780
ISBN: 0-7897-2529-0



Programming A Beginner's Guide
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-07-162472-5
MHID: 0-07-162472-4
      0-07-162473-2



Beginning Programming All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Library of Congress CN: 2008927908
ISBN: 978-0-470-10854-3







  TOC (Table Of Contents)

   HISTORY
   TYPE OF COMPUTERS
   ANATOMY OF A PROGRAM







  HISTORY                TOP | TOC

For programming purposes, the history of computers can be explained in 
three stages or generations. The CENTRAL THEME seeming to be SIZE and
PRICE.


FIRST GENERATION

The first modern computers appeared in the 1940s. They were first built 
for government use, mostly military, because they were expensive and
huge and only governments could afford them. They were huge because 
they were based on TUBE TECHNOLOGY. 

One tube could roughly be compared to being a little smaller than one 
lightbulb, and a computer back then could be compared to having 
hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of them in one building turning 
on and off constantly as they made hundreds, if not thousands, of 
calculations a second. Now, imagine the heat that would create, and the 
air conditioning you'd have to install in order to keep the tubes from 
constantly burning themselves out or the humans up that needed to be in 
there, and then after all that, imagine all the space you'd have to add 
in between each row of tubes so these people could quickly get in and 
out to change them when they did burn out.


SECOND GENERATION

The next generation was based on TRANSISTOR TECHNOLOGY and began in the 
LATE 1950s. Hundreds of transistors could easily fit inside a tube from 
the first generation. They made computers smaller and cheaper. They 
also didn't overheat as easily and lasted longer than tubes did.


THIRD GENERATION

In order to get to the moon by 1969, NASA needed to make computers even 
smaller, so they invented IC (INTEGRATED CIRCUIT) CHIP TECHNOLOGY which 
put thousands of transistors on one small chip that's as small as, or 
smaller than, a cracker. This made computers even smaller and also 
cheaper. It's gotten to the point now that most everything has some 
kind computer on or in it. Cars, ATMs and Phones all have some kind of 
computer in or on them now.







  TYPE OF COMPUTERS      TOP | TOC



SUPERCOMPUTERS

The most expensive and fastest computers are Supercomputers. The speed 
of supercomputers is measured in TERAFLOPS, or (ONE TERA is equal to) 
ONE TRILLION calculations per second. Super computers can be configured 
in one of two ways, either in the tradition single large box, or in the 
form of BEOWULF CLUSTERS. 

Beowulf Clusters are regular PCs strung together in series to make them 
run faster. For more information on Beowulf Clusters go here:

Building Your Own Beowulf Cluster


MAINFRAMES

Mainframes aren't as fast or as expensive as supercomputers, but are 
the next step down and are usually used when heavy processing and when 
several thousand users are required to be tied in together.


MINICOMPUTERS

Minicomputers aren't seen (or used) much today because of the low cost 
and highpower of minicomputers. They tie together up to a hundred 
individual users by monitors and keyboards and nothing else.


MICROCOMPUTERS

Are the smallest and cheapest of all the different type of computers 
and are recognized as Personal Computers, which also includes laptops, 
tablets and even smartphones.







  ANATOMY OF A PROGRAM   TOP | TOC



MACHINE LANGUAGE (ML)

The only kind of language a computer processor understands is MACHINE
LANGUAGE  (ML). The computer processor is also known as the Central 
Processing Unit, or CPU. ML is written in ONES (1) and ZEROES (0), 
and can also be written in a shorthand known as the HEXIDECIMAL 
numbering system (HNS).

For more information on ML and the HNS, go here:

EDU--P-001a--ML-and-HNS.html


ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE (AL)

Although ML is the fastest language used by a computer to process 
information and actions,



HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGES





C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
LAST UPDATED: March 24, 2014
by myself and Caty.