PROGRAMMING

DEFINITION OF PROGRAMMING

Computer programming (often shortened to programming or coding) is the process of designing, writing, testing,debugging / troubleshooting, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in a programming language. The purpose of programming is to create a program that exhibits a certain desired behaviour. The process of writing source code often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.

DEFINITION OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

A programming language is an artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine, to express algorithms precisely, or as a mode of human communication.

source: wikipedia

USAGE OF ICT

EDUCATION

Education policymakers and planners must first of all be clear about what educational outcomes (as discussed above) are being targeted.These broad goals should guide the choice of technologies to be used and their modalities of use.

The potential of each technology varies according to how it is used. Haddad and Draxler identify at least five levels of technology use in education: presentation, demonstration, drill and practice, interaction, and collaboration.

Each of the different ICTs—print, audio/video cassettes, radio and TV broadcasts, computers or the Internet—may be used for presentation and demonstration, the most basic of the five levels. Except for video technologies, drill and practice may likewise be performed using the whole range of technologies. On the other hand, networked computers and the Internet are the ICTs that enable interactive and collaborative learning best; their full potential as educational tools will remain unrealized if they are used merely for presentation or demonstration. ICTs stand for information and communication technologies and are defined, for the purposes of this primer, as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.” These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony.

BANKING

The computer is the nerve centre of the banking system around the world. It functions to control the entire banking system that also includes 'Electronic Banking Services'. Electronic banking provides 24 hour services. The services include :

• Automated Teller Machine (ATM)

• Cheque Deposit

• Electronic Fund Tranfer

• Direct Deposit

• Pay by phone system

• Personal computer banking/ internet banking

In the banking sector, customers, businessman and bank administrator benefits from the usage of ICT.

1. Customers can make any transactions at the 24 hour service centres or via online.These services allow them to do transaction at anytime they want.

2. Businessmen can save their time by using the online services offered by banks. They can access company accounts for loan applications, business transactions and update on their cash flow at any time.

3. Bank administrators can oversee the entire banking activities such as reconciliations, inter-branch transactions (IBT), telegraphic

transfer and others by referring to the banking system.

INDUSTRY

Computers are used to facilitate production planning and control systems, to support chain management and to help in product design in the industrial sector In the industrial sector ,workers, researchers and administrator benefits from the usage of ICT.

1. Workers use machines that are connected to computers to operate. In some productions, robots are used to take over jobs that are dangerous to the workers.

2. Researchers use computers to analyze and collect research data for future reference.

3. Administrators use computers to oversee the entire operations in the plant or factory to detect specific errors or defects that occurred in the process.

E-COMMERCE

E-commerce helps in boosting the economy. It makes buying and selling activities easier, more efficient and faster. For this application, computers, Internet and shared software are needed.

In the e-commerce sector ,customers r, suppliers and employees benefits from the usage of ICT.

1. Customers use computers to be connected online with suppliers to purchase products. This method can save time and cost as they do not have to go to any outlets.

2. Suppliers use computers to keep track of their transactions. All products are bar coded and can be read by the computer scanner to help in determining prices and managing inventory.

4. Employees use computers and telephones to communicate with their customers for any enquiries. The system helps employees to get the latest updates on inventory to be informed to the customers.

FIFTH GENERATION COMPUTERS

Fifth generations computers are only in the minds of advance research scientiets and being tested out in the laboratories. These computers will be under Artifical Intelligence(AI), They will be able to take commands in a audio visual way and carry out instructions. Many of the operations which requires low human intelligence will be perfomed by these computers.

Parallel Processing is coming and showing the possibiliy that the power of many CPU's can be used side by side, and computers will be more powerful than thoes under central processing. Advances in Super Conductor technology will greatly improve the speed of information traffic. Future looks bright for the computers.

FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS

Fourth Generation computers are the modern day computers. The Size started to go down with the improvement in the integerated circuits. Very Large Scale(VLSI) and Ultra Large scale(ULSI) ensured that millions of components could be fit into a small chip. It reduced the size and price of the computers at the same time increasing power, efficiency and reliability. "The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit one step further by locating all the components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output controls) on a minuscule chip."

THIRD GENERATION COMPUTERS (1964-1971)

Despite the fact that transistors were clearly an improvement over the vacuum tube, they still generated a great deal of heat, which damaged the computer's sensitive internal parts. The quartz rock eliminated this problem. Jack Kilby, an engineer with Texas Instruments, developed the integrated circuit (IC) in 1958. The IC combined three electronic components onto a small silicon disc, which was made from quartz. Scientists later managed to fit even more components on a single chip, called a semiconductor. As a result, computers became ever smaller as more components were squeezed onto the chip. Another third-generation development included the use of an operating system that allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central program that monitored and coordinated the computer's memory (Gersting 35 - 39).

SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS (1956-1963)

By 1948, the invention of the transistor greatly changed the computer's development. The transistor replaced the large, cumbersome vacuum tube in televisions, radios and computers. As a result, the size of electronic machinery has been shrinking ever since. The transistor was at work in the computer by 1956. Coupled with early advances in magnetic-core memory, transistors led to second generation computers that were smaller, faster, more reliable and more energy-efficient than their predecessors. The first large-scale machines to take advantage of this transistor technology were early supercomputers, Stretch by IBM and LARC by Sperry-Rand. These computers, both developed for atomic energy laboratories, could handle an enormous amount of data, a capability much in demand by atomic scientists. The machines were costly, however, and tended to be too powerful for the business sector's computing needs, thereby limiting their attractiveness. Only two LARCs were ever installed: one in the Lawrence Radiation Labs in Livermore, California, for which the computer was named (Livermore Atomic Research Computer) and the other at the U.S. Navy Research and Development Center in Washington, D.C. Another addition in second generation computers was the introduction of assembly language. When assembly language replaced machine language, abbreviated programming codes to replaced long, difficult binary codes (Gersting 35)

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTERS

FIRST GENERATION COMPUTERS (1940-1956)

The first generation of computers is said by some to have started in 1946 with ENIAC, the first 'computer' to use electronic valves (ie. vacuum tubes). Others would say it started in May 1949 with the introduction of EDSAC, the first stored program computer. Whichever, the distinguishing feature of the first generation computers was the use of electronic valves.

ENIAC was the World's first electronic calculator and that the era of the first generation computers began in 1946 because that was the year when people consciously set out to build stored program computers. The first past the post, as it were, was the EDSAC in 1949. The period closed about 1958 with the introduction of transistors and the general adoption of ferrite core memories.

OECD figures indicate that by the end of 1958 about 2,500 first generation computers were installed world-wide. (Compare this with the number of PCs shippedworld-wide in 1997, quoted as 82 million by Dataquest).