Computer Programming Concept

1) Computer Programming refers to activities of writing computer instructions.

2) These instructions may be used to control system hardware and software or to carry out data processing tasks according to the organization needs.

3) Computer Instructions may be composed of human language words, mostly English language, i.e called a high-level language or may be written  using short codes representing computer system memory address and data operations, i.e called a low-level language.

3a) Low-level Language

3b) High-level Language

4) A person who writes a computer program is called Programmer.

5) Programmer writes instructions using set  of predefined keywords called Programming Language. At present, there are more than 100 programming languages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programming_languages). In practice, mastering one language is sufficient for a programmer to write an effective computer program.

6) In general, computer programming activities include the following stages:
1. problem analysis
2. design of the program
3. algorithm and flow chart
4. coding of the program
5. debugging and testing
6. documentation
7. maintenance of program

These stages are often referred as Program Development Life Cycle (read more)

Computer Programming Language infographic by CTU.