Introduction to Programming Techniques:

In this part you will learn about:

How programming languages evolved
How programs are translated
Criteria for Evaluating Programming Languages
Categories of programming languages


How did Programming Languages evolve? (put link to document)
Programming languages evolved through four main generations:

- First Generation:
Machine Language ( i.e. 0's and 1's). Those are the exact codes of machine
operations.
- Second Generation:
Assembly Language ( which is a direct mapping of machine language from 0's
and 1's into codes such as MOVE, ADD, ) Assembly language programs
are translated using into machine language assemblers. Systems software
programs such as OSs and utility programs are often written in assembly
languages.
- Third Generation:
To continue the trend toward greater use of symbolic code BASIC, COBOL, C
and FORTRAN were developed as, high level, third-generation languages that
use English which more closely resembles everyday human communication
and understanding. Each statement in the languages translates into several
instruction in machine language. Those languages are translated using a
compiler or an interpreter.
- Fourth Generation (4GLs)
Fourth-generation programming languages emphasize on output results. They
are designed to be used with little or no training in computers and
programming, e.g. by managers and executives. Examples are: languages for
accessing information in a database such as SQL (Structured Query
Language), which is often used to perform database queries and
manipulations.


How are programs translated? Program Translation techniques can be
categorized into two main categories: Compilation and Interpretation

A compiler converts the source code program into the machine-languages
instructions consisting of binary digits. A compiler creates a two-stage process
for program execution. First, it translates the program into a complete machine
language program; second, the CPU executes that program. Another approach
is to use an interpreter, which is a language translator that converts each
statement in a programming language into machine language and executes the
translated statement, one at a time. Examples are C++ compilers (Borland C,
Visual C), Pascal. A pure interpreter does not produce a complete machine-
language program. After the statement executes, the machine-language
statement is discarded, the process continues for the next statement, and so on.
A typical example is BASIC in its early stages.
A compromise between compilers and pure interpreters is obtained by
translating a high-level language program into an intermediate language that
allows easy interpretation. This is faster than pure interpretation. Examples are
Perl programs that are partially compiled to detect errors before interpretation.
Another example is Java. Java programs are translated into an intermediate
form called byte code, which provides portability to any machine that has a
byte code interpreter and a run-time system (together, these are called Java
Virtual Machine)

What are the criteria for evaluating Programming Languages?
There are 3 main criteria for evaluating programming languages:
1. Readability: indicates how easy programs written in that language can be
comprehended. e.g. the availability of suitable control statement that can
model required actions, suitable data types, minimum multiplicity of
features
2. Writability: is related to how easy it is to express the logistics of a program
using that language. e.g. the availability of simple short cuts (such as ++
and += in C++), the possibility to define new data types with suitable
interface to facilitate use of corresponding objects.
3. Reliability: reliability is related to error checking, and measures for
avoiding run time errors. Of course there is a tradeoff between error
checking and speed of execution of a program.
4. Cost: This is not limited to the cost of developing and/or writing the
program. It includes costs for training programmers to learn the language,
costs for compiling and running the program, costs due to failure of the
program, and last, but definitely not least, costs for maintaining the
program. Maintenance costs may be as high as 2 to 4 times the costs of
development.


How are programming languages categorized
The main categories of programming languages are:
Imperative Languages: Those languages are based on constructs such
as variables and different statements (assignment, iteration ..).
Examples are C, C++, Java, Visual BASIC .NET, Perl
Functional: In those languages computations are mainly performed
through functions. An examples is LISP
Logic: Those languages are based on applying rules. A typical example
is Prolog
Markup languages: such as XHTML are not real programming
languages. Recently, some features have been added to XHTML to
provide more programming capabilities such as JSTL (Java Server Tag
Library)