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Questions and Answers
What is the purpose of program maintenance?
What is the purpose of program maintenance?
What is a programming language?
What is a programming language?
What is the main difference between high-level languages and low-level languages?
What is the main difference between high-level languages and low-level languages?
What is the purpose of a compiler or an interpreter?
What is the purpose of a compiler or an interpreter?
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What is an example of a low-level language?
What is an example of a low-level language?
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What type of test is typically run by companies that sell software?
What type of test is typically run by companies that sell software?
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What is the benefit of using high-level languages?
What is the benefit of using high-level languages?
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What is the purpose of documentation in program maintenance?
What is the purpose of documentation in program maintenance?
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What is an example of a high-level language?
What is an example of a high-level language?
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What is the benefit of program maintenance?
What is the benefit of program maintenance?
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Study Notes
Program Development Life Cycle
- Program development is the process of creating new programs, and the Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC) is the process associated with creating successful applications programs.
- PDLC consists of five phases: program analysis, program design, program coding, debugging and testing, and program maintenance.
Program Analysis
- Problem analysis is the first phase of PDLC, where a systems analyst and programmer review specifications and talk with users to fully understand what the software should do.
- The outcome of problem analysis is documentation, which includes:
- Program specifications
- Timetable
- Language to be used
- Testing plan
- Required documentation
Program Design
- Program design is the second phase of PDLC, where planning tools are used to create a detailed design of the program.
- Program design tools include:
- Flowcharts
- Pseudocode
Program Design Tools
- Flowcharts use geometric symbols and relational operators to provide a graphic display of the sequence of steps involved in a program.
- Flowcharts follow the same logical sequence as the program statements.
- Different symbols are used to represent different actions, such as start/stop, decision, input/output, processing, and looping symbols.
Program Design: Control Structures
- Sequence control structure is a series of procedures that follow one another.
- Controlling a repetition structure requires modifying the flowchart to change the value of the loop variable.
- Examples of program design include:
- Average of 10 numbers using iteration with a while loop
- Calculating the area of a circle using pseudocode
Program Design: Pseudocode
- Pseudocode uses English-like statements in place of graphic symbols.
- Pseudocode is easy to modify and can be embedded into a program as comments.
- Examples of pseudocode include:
- Calculating the average grade for a class of 100 students
- Displaying "pass" or "fail" based on a student's grade
Program Coding
- Coding is the third phase of PDLC, where the program is written in a programming language.
- The programming language must be chosen, and coding standards should be adhered to.
- Reusable code and data dictionaries should be used to translate the coded program into executable code.
Program Debugging and Testing
- Debugging is the process of making sure a program is free of errors or bugs.
- Preliminary debugging finds syntax or logic errors, and testing can consist of alpha or beta testing.
- Types of errors include:
- Syntax errors: occur when the programmer has not followed the syntax rules of the language.
- Logic errors: result when the command syntax is correct but the program is producing incorrect results.
- Runtime errors: occur when the program is running, such as dividing by zero or accessing a non-existent file.
Program Maintenance
- Program maintenance is the process of updating software to ensure it continues to be useful.
- Maintenance is a costly process, but it can be used to extend the life of a program.
- Documentation consists of amended program packages reflecting what problems occurred and what program changes were made.
Categories of Programming Languages
- Machine and assembly languages are called low-level languages, because they require programmers to write instructions at the finest level of detail.
- High-level languages require less coding detail and make programs easier to write, but need to be translated into machine language before they can be executed.
- Examples of high-level languages include:
- BASIC
- COBOL
- Pascal
- C
- Java
- Python
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Description
Learn about the difference between compilation and interpretation in programming, including the role of compilers and interpreters in converting source code to executable code.