Program Development

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Welcome to Class !!

We are eager to have you join us !!

In today’s Computer Science class, We will be learning about Program Development. We hope you enjoy the class!

Program

A program is a set of instructions given to a computer to perform a specific task. A computer program is a list of instructions that tell a computer what to do. Everything a computer does is done by using a computer program. Some examples of computer programs: A web browser like Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari can be used to view web pages on the Internet.

Characteristics of a good program

1. Accuracy – The program must do what it is supposed to do correctly and must meet the criteria laid down in its specification.
2. Readability and Simplicity – The overall simplicity of a programming language strongly affects the readability of the programs written in that language, and programs, which are easier to read and understand, are also easier to maintain. A good programming language must be simple and easy to learn and use. It should provide a programmer with a clear, simple and unified set of concepts, which can be easily grasped.
3. Efficiency –  Optimal utilization of resources is essential in any computer program. Programs written in a good programming language are efficiently translated into machine code, are efficiently executed, and acquire as little space in the memory as possible.
4. Compactness – In a good programming language, programmers should be able to express intended operations concisely. A verbose language is generally not liked by programmers, because they need to write too much.
5. Structured – Structured means that the language should have necessary features to allow its users to write their programs based on the concepts of structured programming.
6. Usability – The program must be easy enough to use and be well documented, both for end-users, novice and computer experts.
7. Reliability – The program must always do what it is supposed to do and never crash at any point, either during usage or whenever.
8. Naturalness – A good language should be natural for the application area, for which it has been designed. That is, it should provide appropriate operators, data structures,  control structures, and a natural syntax to facilitate the users to code their problem easily and efficiently.

Steps involved in program development

1. Program definition
2. Program analysis
3. Flow chart
4. Desk checking
5. Program compilation
6. Program testing/debugging
7. Program coding
8. Program documentation

Program definition: Is the creation of formal modal of the problem to be solved in the system analysis. It involves planning, implementation and evaluation of a set of programs to be developed.

Program Analysis: Is the process of automatically analysing the behaviour of a computer program. The main approaches to program analysis are static program analysis and dynamic program analysis. Main applications of program analysis are program correctness and program optimization.

Desk checking: Is a tool used to test the logic of a program. This means that the programmer needs to test whether the code is in its correct order and what output is expected from the program.

Program debugging: Is the art of diagnosing errors in programs and determining how to correct them.

Debugging: Is a methodical process of finding and reducing the numbers of bugs or defects in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware thus, making it behave as expected.

 

We have come to the end of this class. We do hope you enjoyed the class?

Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.

In our next class, we will be learning about Program Development Cycle. We are very much eager to meet you there.

 

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