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...
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...
Second-generation Programming Language ... The term was coined to provide a distinction from higher level third-generation programming languages (3GL) such as COBOL and earlier machine code languages... Second-generation programming languages have the following properties: The code can be read and written by a programmer... Programming language generations Generations Overview 1GL 2GL 3GL 4GL 5GL ...
Ajax (programming) ... Ajax is not a single technology, but a group of technologies. HTML and CSS can be used in combination to mark up and style information...
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...
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...
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)...
Booting ... The computer term boot is short for bootstrap or bootstrap load and derives from the phrase to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps. The usage calls attention to the paradox that a computer cannot run without first loading software but some software must run before any software can be loaded...
Software Bug ... Bugs trigger errors that can in turn have a wide variety of ripple effects, with varying levels of inconvenience to the user of the program. Some bugs have only a subtle effect on the program's functionality, and may thus lie undetected for a long time...
Duck Typing ... Duck typing is aided by habitually not testing for the type of arguments in method and function bodies, relying on documentation, clear code and testing to ensure correct use. Concept examples Consider the following pseudo-code for a duck-typed language: function calculate (a, b, c) => return (a+b)*c example1 = calculate (1, 2, 3) example2 = calculate (, 2) example3 = calculate ('apples ', 'and oranges, ', 3) print to_string example1 print to_string example2 print to_string example3 In the example, each time the calculate function is called, objects without related inheritance may be used (numbers, lists and strings)...
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...
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...
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 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...
Programmable Calculator ... For earlier devices, see: History of computing hardware Calculator programming Programmable calculators allow the user to write and store programs in the calculator in order to solve difficult problems or automate an elaborate procedure... Programming capability appears most commonly (although not exclusively) in graphing calculators, as the larger screen allows multiple lines of source code to be viewed simultaneously (i.e., without having to scroll to the next/previous display line)... Originally, calculator programming had to be done in the calculator's own command language, but as calculator hackers discovered ways to bypass the main interface of the calculators and write assembly language programs, calculator companies (particularly Texas Instruments) began to support native-mode programming on their calculator hardware, first revealing the hooks used to enable such code to operate, and later explicitly building in facilities to handle such programs directly from the user int...
Polymorphism (computer Science) ... In the object-oriented programming community, programming using parametric polymorphism is often called generic programming...
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...
Computer Network ... Communications protocols define the rules and data formats for exchanging information in a computer network, and provide the basis for network programming...
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...
Pocket Computer ... An important feature of pocket computers was that all programming languages were available for the device itself, not downloaded from a cross-compiler on a larger computer...
Konrad Zuse ... Zuse was also noted for the S2 computing machine, considered the first process-controlled computer. He founded one of the earliest computer businesses in 1941, producing the Z4, which became the world's first commercial computer...
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...
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...
Plankalkül ... "Kalkül" means formal system – the Hilbert-style deduction system is for example originally called "Hilbert-Kalkül", so Plankalkül means "formal system for planning". Description Plankalkül has drawn comparisons to APL and relational algebra...