Definition of Assembly Language

Definition: Assembly Language is a low level programming language using the human readable instructions of the CPU. On PCs, the assembly language looks like this mov ebx, eax mov esi, 66 mov [edx+ebx*4+4], ecx mov [ebx], ah

To understand it you need to know that eax,ebx etc are each a 32 bit register inside the CPU. The Mov instructions just copy the value so the first line is pretty much the same as this C code
ebx = eax;

To compile this into machine code, you need an assembler. It's just a compiler for assembly language. Many compilers can output the assembly language equivalent of code in C or C++. The problem with assembly language is that it requires a high level of technical knowledge, and it's slow to write. In the same time that you take to write ten lines of assembly language- that's ten instructions, you could write ten lines of C++, perhaps the equivalent of 500 instructions!
Examples: There is rarely any need to write programs in assembly language these days!

------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxx----------------"C"
Definition: C: n. 1. The third letter of the English alphabet. 2. ASCII 1000011. 3. The name of a programming language designed by Dennis Ritchie during the early 1970s and immediately used to reimplement Unix; so called because many features derived from an earlier compiler named `B' in commemoration of its parent, BCPL. (BCPL was in turn descended from an earlier Algolderived language, CPL.) Before Bjarne Stroustrup settled the question by designing C++, there was a humorous debate over whether C's successor should be named `D' or `P'. C became immensely popular outside Bell Labs after about 1980 and is now the dominant language in systems and microcomputer applications programming. See also languages of choice, indent style. C is often described, with a mixture of fondness and disdain varying according to the speaker, as "a language that combines all the elegance and power of assembly language with all the readability and maintainability of assembly language".

................................. Source: Jargon Dictionary [http:/ /www.tldp.org// Linux Dictionary V 0.16 http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Dictionary/html/index.html Author: Binh Nguyen linuxfilesystem(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)au ................................. > Linux/Unix/Computing Glossary

-----------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx------------Definition of Machine Code

Definition: Machine code is the name for the Instructions that a CPU can execute. It's rather difficult to read as it is just numbers in memory. There are programs that can convert the numbers back into assembly language but unless you are pretty skilled or trying to break a protection scheme, there is little use or need for it. Compilers generate machine code from your C or C++ source code. Also Known As: Binary Code Examples: Compiler writers use all sorts of tricks so that the machine code generated by the compiler is optimized to execute very rapidly. ------------------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx---------------

Definition of Source Code

Definition: Source code is the human readable instructions that a programmer writes. Here is an example of some C++ code
void Rectangle::MoveTo (int newx, int newy) { x = newx; y = newy; } void Rectangle::RMoveTo (int dx, int dy) { x += dx; y += dy; }

Programmers use a compiler to turn source code into machine code that the computer can execute. Some programming languages like JavaScript are not compiled into machine code but are interpreted instead.

----------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-----------------Definition of Program
Definition: A computer program is a set of instructions for a computer to perform a specific task. Programs generally fall into these categories applications, utilities or services. Programs are written in a programming language (See What is a Programming Language?) then translated into machine code by a compiler and linker so that the computer can execute it directly or run it line by line (interpreted) by an interpreter program. Popular scripting languages like Visual Basic in Microsoft Office are interpreted. Also Known As: Computer Program Common Misspellings: Programme

------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-----------Definition of Link
Definition: To convert Source Code to Machine code takes two phases. 1. Compilation. This turns the Source Code into Object Code. 2. Linking. This collects all the various Object Code files and builds them into an EXE or DLL. Linking is quite a technical process. The obj files generated by the compiler include extra information that the linker needs to ensure that function calls between different obj files are correctly "joined up". Examples: Linking the aplication took two hours. --------------------------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--------------------------

Definition of Compiler
Definition: A compiler is a computer program that transforms human readable source code of another computer program into the machine readable code that a CPU can execute. The act of transforming source code into machine code is called "compilation". This is the opposite to the process of interpretation. Examples: Before the game could be tested it had to be compiled. --------------------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx----------------------------------

What is a Programming Language?

What Does A Programming Language Do?: A programming language is used to write computer programs such as
y y y y

Applications Utilities Servers Systems Programs

A program is written as a series of human understandable computer instructions that can be read by a compiler and linker, and translated into machine code so that a computer can understand and run it.
y

Find out more about Compilers and Interpreters

Are There Many Programs In A Computer?: From the moment you turn on your computer, it is running programs, carrying out instructions, testing your ram, resetting all attached devices and loading the operating system from hard disk or CD-Rom. Each and every operation that your computer performs has instructions that someone had to write in a programming language. These had to be created, compiled and tested- a long and complex task. An operating system like Microsoft's Windows Vista took millions of man hours to write and test the software.

What is an Operating System?

Examples Of Programming Languages: These languages include Assembler, C or C++. A computer motherboard with the CPU, RAM and ROM), the instructions to boot the computer are limited to a small amount of memory in the boot ROM chip and so are usually written in assembler. Operating systems like Linux or Windows are written in C and C++.
y y y

Understanding what Software Is C++ For Beginners C For Beginners

Traditional Programming Languages: In the late 40s and early 50s, computer programs were entered by flicking switches. It was quickly realised how inefficient and slow that was and computer languages soon appeared. Thousands of programming languages have been invented since then, many as PhD research projects, but only a few have been really successful. Through the 60s and 70s, these languages :
y y y

Fortran Cobol Basic

all ruled the roost but declined when better languages came into being. Basic hung in there the longest but is now declining.
y y y

Learn Delphi Programming Want To Learn Visual Basic? Focus On Java

What Programming Languages Are Now In Use?: It is mainly Java and C++ with C# starting to gain popularity and C holding its own. There have been many attempts to automate this process, and have computers write computer programs but the complexity is such that for now, humans still write the best computer programs. More advanced techniques, for instance using
y y y

Objects Generics Multi-threading

mean that the modern programming languages are far more powerful.

Programming Languages - What Are They?

How Are These Newer Programming Languages Better?: Lower level languages like
y y y

Assembly Language C, C++

Force the programmer to think more about the problem in computer terms, instead of the business logic. Less about payrolls and more about how the data is stored. C# though does not use pointers, so that removes the chances of a pointer being corrupted or not freed. The .NET runtime handles things like garbage collection, so the developer doesn't have to reinvent this wheel. The Future Of Programming Languages: The most popular programming languages are currently :
y y y

C C++ Java

(Sources: tiobe.com). As computers get faster, have more RAM, applications will get more complex, it is likely that more development will shift from C++ to the higher level languages such as Java and C#. Microsoft have put a lot of faith in C# as their answer to Java and have the financial leverage to continue plugging it for a very long time. I expect both Java and C# to become the two dominant programming languages. -----------------------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx----------------------------------

C For Beginners - Learn about C

What is C?
C is a programming language invented in the early 1970s by Dennis Ritchie as a language for writing operating systems.

Here is a short overview and history of C.

The purpose of C is to precisely define a series of operations that a computer can perform to accomplish a task. Most of these operations involve manipulating numbers and text, but anything that the computer can physically do can be programmed in C. Computers have no intelligence- they have to be told exactly what to do and this is defined by the programming language you use. Once programmed they can repeat the steps as many times as you wish at very high speed. Modern PCs are so fast they can count to a billion in a second or two.
What can a C program do? Typical programming tasks includes putting data into a database or pulling it out, displaying high speed graphics in a game or video, controlling electronic devices attached to the PC or even playing music and/or sound effects. You can even write software to generate music or help you compose. Is C the best programming language? Some computer languages were written for a specific purpose. Java was originally devised to control toasters, C for programming Operating Systems, Pascal to teach good programming techniques but C was intended to be more like a high level assembly language which could be used to port applications to different computer systems.

There are some tasks that can be done in C but not very easily, for example designing GUI screens for applications. Other languages like Visual Basic, Delphi and more recently C# have GUI design elements built in to them and so are better suited for this type of task. Also some scripting languages that provide extra programmability to applications like MS Word and even Photoshop tend to be done in variants of Basic, not C. You can find out more about the other computer languages and how they stack up against C.
Which computers have C? This is better stated as which computers don't have C! The answer- almost none, after 30 years of use it is everywhere. It is particularly useful im embedded systems with limited amounts of RAM and ROM. There are C compilers for just about every type of operating system. Find out more about Operating Systems. How do I get started with C? First you need a C compiler. There are many commercial and free ones available. The list below has instructions for downloading and installing the compilers. Both are completely free and include an IDE to make life easier for you to edit, compile and debug your applications.
y y

Download and Install Microsoft's Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition Download and Install Open Watcom C/C++ Compiler

The instructions also show you how to enter and compile your first C application.

How do I begin writing C applications? C code is written using a text editor. This can be notepad or an IDE like those supplied with the three compilers listed above. You write a computer program as a series of instructions (called statements) in a notation that looks a little like mathematical formulas.
int c=0; float b= c*3.4+10;

This is saved out in a text file and then compiled and linked to generate machine code which you then can run. Every application you use on a computer will have been written and compiled like this, and many of them will be wriiten in C. Read more about compilers and how they work. You can't usually get hold of the original source code unless it was open source. Is there plenty of C Open Source? Because it is so widespread, much open source software has been written in C. Unlike commercial applications, where the source code is owned by a business and never made available, open source code can be viewed and used by anyone. It's an excellent way to learn coding techniques. You can see many examples in the C Code Library Could I get a programming job? Certainly. There are many C jobs out there and an immense body of code exists that will need updating, maintaining and occasionally rewriting. The top three most popular programming languages according to the quarterly Tiobe.com survey, are Java, C and C++.

You could write your own games but you'll need to be artistic or have an artist friend. You'll also need music and sound effects. Find out more about game development. Games like Quake 2 and 3 were written in C and the code is available free online for you to study and learn from it. Perhaps a professional 9-5 career would suit you better- read about a professional career or perhaps consider entering the world of software engineering writing software to control nuclear reactors, aircraft, space rockets or for other safety critical areas.
What Tools and Utilities are there? Well if you can't find what you want, you could always write it. That is how most of the tools around came into existence. We've listed some tools and utilities but keep checking back. So what now? First you have to learn to program in C. Read the tutorials and join the forums and ask questions. But most of all have fun!