Unit Introduction
Computers have become an important part of our daily lives. They can help us to solve several problems ranging from complex mathematical problems and searching on the internet to controlling and operating satellites and rocket launchers. In reality, computers are not very smart on their own. In order to perform all the tasks, they have to be fed a series of instructions by humans which tell them how to behave and perform when faced with a particular type of problem. These series of instructions are known as a computer program or software, and the process of feeding or storing these instructions in the computer is known as computer programming. The person who knows how to write a computer program correctly is known as a programmer.
Computers cannot understand English, Urdu or any other common language that humans use for interacting with each other. They have their own special languages, designed by computer scientists. Programmers write computer programs in these special languages called programming languages. Java, C, C++,C=, Python are some of the most commonly used programming languages. In this book, we are using C language to write computer programs. This chapter discusses some basics of computer programming using Clanguage.
DID YOU KNOW?
C language was developed by Dennis Ritchie between 1969 and 1973 at Bell Labs.
1.1 Programming Environment
In order to correctly perform any task, we need to have proper tools. For example for gardening we need gardening tools and for painting we need a collection of paints, brushes and canvas. Similarly we need proper tools for programming. A collection of all the necessary tools for programming makes up a
programming environment. It is essential to setup a programming environment
before we start writing programs. It works as a basic platform for us to write andexecute programs.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
A software that provides a programming environment to facilitate programmers in writing and executing computer programs is known as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
An IDE has a graphical user interface (GUI), meaning that a user can interact with it using windows and buttons to provide input and get output. An IDE consists of tools that help a programmer throughout the phases of writing, executing and testing a computer program. This is achieved by combining text editors, compilers and debuggers in a single interface. Some of the many available IDEs
for C programming language are: 01
Visual Studio
1. sublime Text
2. Text Editer
3. Xcode
4. Code:Blocks
5. DevC ++
0 Comments