INTRODUCTION TO

COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
UNIT I

COMSCI 1101 - COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I

Learning Outcomes
 Define what a program is;
 Identify the main computer components responsible
for program execution;
 Enumerate the basic processes of program execution;
 Explain the necessity to translate a program written
in a higher-level programming language into machine
language;
 Discuss the history of the C programming language;
and
 Enumerate the basic steps of problem solving.
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What is a Programming?
Programming
 It is the process of writing instructions for
computer
 It become a huge catalyst of great technological
developments in the world.
 Useful and necessary technologies such as
software, computers, web applications, smart
phone application, robotics, digital devices etc.
are results of programming.
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What is a Program?
Program
 It is a sequence of instructions, written to
perform a specified task through a computer.
 A computer needs a program in order to function.
 A computer accepts data using an input device
and its processor process it according to a
program.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Two Major Components
 Hardware are the tangible part of a computer
which is composed of electronic and mechanical
parts.
 Software are the intangible part of a computer
that is consisting of computer programs and
related data.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Hardware
Components of the Hardware
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 Memory (storage)
 Input devices
 Output devices

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Basic Components of a Computer
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 It is the brain of the computer
 It does the fundamental computing/data processing within
the system
 Composed of two major parts: Control Unit (CU) and
Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)
 Computing performance of the CPU mainly depends on the
design of it.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Memory
 It is where data and instructions needed by the CPU to do its
required tasks can be found.
 It is divided into several storage locations which have
corresponding addresses.
 Main memory is used to hold programs and data, which the
processor is actively working with. It is also called Random
Access Memory (RAM). It is considered as volatile storage
since it stores data in the form of electrical pulses.
 Secondary Memory is used to hold programs and data for
long term use.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Input Devices and Output Devices
 These devices allows the computer system to interact with
the outside world by moving data into and out of the
system.
 Examples of input devices are keyboard, mouse and
microphone.
 Examples of output devices are monitor, printer and speaker.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Software
Types of Computer Software
 System Software
 Application Software
 Compilers

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Basic Components of a Computer
System Software
 Programs that are needed to keep all the hardware and
software running smoothly.
 It controls the operations of the computer hardware.
 Computer hardware needs the system software to be able to
function properly and manage its resources.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Application Software
 These are programs that people use to get their work done.

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Basic Components of a Computer
Compilers
 The computer only understand machine language. Machine
language is in the form of 1’s and 0’s.
 It translate a language that can be understand by the
computer.

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What is a Programming Language?
Programming Language
 It is a standardized communications technique for
expressing instructions to a computer.
 It enables programmer to precisely specify what
data a computer will act upon, how these data
will be stored/transmitted and what actions to
take under various circumstances.
 There are different programming languages that
can be used to create programs.
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What is a Programming Language?
Categories of Programming Language
 Low-Level Assemby Language
 High-Level Programming Languages

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Syntax, Sematics and Pragmatics
Syntax
 It is the form by which a code is written
Semantic
 It is the meaning given to the various program
construct.
Pragmatic
 It refers to the history and some implementation
methodology specific to the language.

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C-Based Language
 C++ includes all the features of C, but adds
classes and other features to support object-
oriented programming.
 Java is based on C++ and therefore inherits many
C features.
 C# is a more recent language derived from C++
and Java.
 Perl has adopted many of the features of C.

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The Programming Process
Basic steps in solving problem.
1. Problem Definition
“ Create a program that will determine the number of
times a name occurs in a list”
2. Problem Analysis
Determining the input and output.
Example problem:
Determine the sum of two integer.
Input to the program:
Two numbers, num1 and num2
Output of the program:
The sum of two numbers, sum
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The Programming Process
3. Algorithm Design and Representation
Algorithm – a clear and unambiguous specification of the
steps needed to solve a problem.
a. Expressing the solution through pseudocode.
b. Expressing the solution through flowchart.

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The Programming Process
 Coding and Debugging

Debugging – adding some fixes to the program in case of

errors/bugs.

Two types of errors:

 Compile-Time error – occur if there is a syntax error in the
code.
 Run-Time error – appears after the program runs.
 Fatal – terminates program execution immediately.
 Non-Fatal – allows program to run but produces incorrect
result.
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Programming in C
C Program is composed of one or more source file. A source file is a file
containing the source code of a program. Each source file contains one or
more functions and possibly references to one or more header file.

Main function
 One and only one in entire program.
 Start function in a program.

Header file
 Provided by the system or created by the programmer.
 ASCII file that contains functions, variable declarations, definitions

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FUNCTIONS, STATEMENTS, and EXPRESSIONS

 Function is an independent section of program code that performs a

certain task and has been assigned a name.
 The program can send information, called arguments.
 There are two types of functions in C:
 library functions which are part of the C compiler package
 user-defined functions which the programmer creates.
 Function composed of statements.
 A statement is any valid expression (usually an assignment or a function call)
that is immediately followed by a semicolon.

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FUNCTIONS, STATEMENTS, and EXPRESSIONS

General composition of functions, statements, and expressions.

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COMPILE, LINK, and EXECUTE

The basic stages of a C program: source code, object code, executable code.

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THE PREPROCESSOR
 Identified by the # sign
 first non-blank character on the line
 # - recognizes the statement as a directive - locates the system header
file - copies it into the source file automatically.

 #include - request inclusion of header file

 #define - assigning symbolic names to program constants

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COMMENTS
 notes written to a code for documentation purposes
 not part of the program
 do not affect the flow of the program

Types of Comments:
 /* */ - C-style comments for multiline comments
/* this is an example of a
C style or multiline comments */
 // - C++ style comments for single line comments
// This is a C++ style or single line comments
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PROGRAM STATEMENTS AND BLOCKS
 STATEMENT is one or more lines of code terminated by a semicolon.
printf(“Hello world!”);
sum = num1+num2;
 BLOCK is one or more statements bounded by an opening and closing
curly braces that groups the statements as one unit.
int main( ) {
printf ("Hello");
printf ("world!");
}
return 0;

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CODING GUIDELINES
1. In creating blocks, you can place the opening curly brace in line with the
statement,like for example,
int main( ){
or you can place the curly brace on the next line, like,
int main( )
{
2. You should indent the next statements after the start of a block, for
example,
int main( ){
printf ("Hello");
printf ("world!");
}
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IDENTIFIERS
 represent names of variables, functions, arrays, structures, etc.
e.g. addValues, firstName, x, arr, number_1
 case-sensitive: x is not the same as X
 alphanumeric characters ( a ~ z , A～Z , 0～9 ) and underscore ( _ )
 Should not start with a number
 Should not use the C keywords like void, printf, goto, while, etc.
 no rule for the length of an identifier.

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CODING GUIDELINES
1. For names of functions and variables, the first letter of the word should
start with a small letter. For example:

firstNumber, thisIsAnExampleOfFunctionName

2. In case of multi-word identifiers, use capital letters to indicate the start

of the word except the first word. For example:

charArray, fileNumber, lastName

3. Avoid using underscores at the start of the identifier such as:

_read or _write.
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KEYWORDS
 Also called as “reserved words”, which means that it has a special
meaning in C language.
 If one of these words must be used as identifiers, the case of one or more
letters must be changed in order to make it distinct from the reserved
word.
auto double int struct
break else long switch
case enum register typedef
const extern return union
char float short unsigned
continue for signed volatile
default goto sizeof void
do if static while
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LITERALS
 INTEGER LITERALS
Integer literals come in different formats: decimal (base 10),
hexadecimal (base 16), and octal (base 8).
also known as “whole numbers”
 FLOATING POINT LITERALS
decimals with fractional parts
 CHARACTER LITERALS
an alphabet, a single digit or a single special symbol enclosed within
single quote delimiters.
 STRING LITERALS
multiple characters and are enclosed by double quotes
COMSCI 1101 - COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I
 Thank YOU for listening…
Presented by: Gemlyn S. Inocencio
COMSCI 1101 - COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I