The Future of Computer Programming and Software Development Careers

Computer ... Conventionally a computer consists of some form of memory, at least one element that carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit that can change the order of operations based on the information that is stored. Peripheral devices allow information to be entered from an external source, and allow the results of operations to be sent out...

Microprocessor ... The advent of low-cost computers on integrated circuits has transformed modern society. General-purpose microprocessors in personal computers are used for computation, text editing, multimedia display, and communication over the Internet...

HP Calculators ... With this in mind, HP built the HP 9100 desktop scientific calculator. This was a full-featured calculator that included not only standard "adding machine" functions but also powerful capabilities to handle floating-point numbers, trigonometric functions, logarithms, exponentiation, and square roots...

Computer Program ... Source code is written in a programming language that usually follows one of two main paradigms: imperative or declarative programming... Paradigms Computer programs can be categorized by the programming language paradigm used to produce them...

Ad-hoc Polymorphism ... This type of polymorphism is common in object-oriented programming languages, many of which allow operators to be overloaded in a manner similar to functions (see operator overloading)...

High-level Programming Language ... The first high-level programming language designed for computers was Plankalkül, created by Konrad Zuse... Abstraction penalty While high-level languages are intended to make complex programming simpler, low-level languages often produce more efficient code... Abstraction penalty is the barrier that prevents high-level programming techniques from being applied in situations where computational resources are limited...

Computer Multitasking ... Operating systems may adopt one of many different scheduling strategies, which generally fall into the following categories: In multiprogramming systems, the running task keeps running until it performs an operation that requires waiting for an external event (e.g. reading from a tape) or until the computer's scheduler forcibly swaps the running task out of the CPU...

Programming Language ... The earliest programming languages predate the invention of the computer, and were used to direct the behavior of machines such as Jacquard looms and player pianos... Thousands of different programming languages have been created, mainly in the computer field, with many more being created every year... Most programming languages describe computation in an imperative style, i.e., as a sequence of commands, although some languages, such as those that support functional programming or logic programming, use alternative forms of description...

First-generation Programming Language ... The first-generation programming instructions were entered through the front panel switches of the computer system...

Colossus Computer ... Colossus was designed by engineer Tommy Flowers with input from Sidney Broadhurst, William Chandler, Allen Coombs and Harry Fensom. at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill to solve a problem posed by mathematician Max Newman at Bletchley Park...

Computer Network ... Communications protocols define the rules and data formats for exchanging information in a computer network, and provide the basis for network programming...

Data Type ... Almost all programming languages explicitly include the notion of data type, though different languages may use different terminology... For example, in the Java programming language, the "int" type represents the set of 32-bit integers ranging in value from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647, as well as the operations that can be performed on integers, such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication... Most programming languages also allow the programmer to define additional data types, usually by combining multiple elements of other types and defining the valid operations of the new data type...

Personal Computer ... Software applications for personal computers include, but are not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers and e-mail clients, digital media playback, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources...

Third-generation Programming Language ... First introduced in the late 1950s, Fortran, ALGOL, and COBOL are early examples of this sort of language. Most popular general-purpose languages today, such as C, C++, C#, Java, BASIC and Delphi, are also third-generation languages...

Fifth-generation Programming Language ... While fourth-generation programming languages are designed to build specific programs, fifth-generation languages are designed to make the computer solve a given problem without the programmer...

Strong Typing ... Interpretation Most generally, "strong typing" implies that the programming language places severe restrictions on the intermixing that is permitted to occur, preventing the compiling or running of source code which uses data in what is considered to be an invalid way...

ENIAC ... ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. When ENIAC was announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain"...

Semantics (computer Science) ... It has close links with other areas of computer science such as programming language design, type theory, compilers and interpreters, program verification and a model checking...

Programmer ... The ENIAC programming team, consisting of Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas and Ruth Lichterman were the first regularly working programmers... Many technical innovations in programming — advanced computing technologies and sophisticated new languages and programming tools — have redefined the role of a programmer and elevated much of the programming work done today...