This is a simple but full of details and information presentation all about the introduction of basic programming. :)

1. A Power point to know more about
Programming in an easier and understandable way.

2.  Introduction to Programming
 Program Life Cycle
 Procedural and Non-Procedural Languages
 Flowcharting
 Levels in Programming
 Symbols used in Flowchart

3.  What is a Program ?
 Program is a set of step by step instructions that tells or directs
the computer what to do. It sequences the tasks a user wants to
be done and produces the results or output needed.
The set of rules or instructions that tells the computer what to
perform is done through a programming language. There are
various types of programming languages you can choose from.
A programmer is the person who designs a program. It converts
problem solutions into instructions for the computer.

4.  The steps to follow in writing or creating a program
include the following:
1. Identifying the Problem
This is the First step. It involves determining the requirement of
the program. For example, suppose that you are a
programmer and somebody seeks your services in creating
a program. As the client gives the desired output
requirements, you are to analyze the need to be able to
come up with a suitable programming solution.

5.  2. Planning the solution
 There are two ways of planning the solution to a problem, they
are; 1) draw a flowchart and 2) write a pseudo code. Flowchart is
a graphical presentation of the step by step instruction to be done
in a program while pseudo code is listing down the set of
instructions to be used in the program.
 Reminder:
 These two approaches are not executable in a programming language;
you are just planning the solution.

7.  3. Coding the Program
 As you designed the solution the next step is to code the program
with the use of chosen programming language. In this book we
will use Visual Basic as our programming language. If human
language follows grammar in writing and speaking, programming
languages have their own set of rules to follow, this is called
syntax. Violation of the rule set by programming language used in
a certain program will produce an error called syntax error. One of
the common causes

8.  4. Testing the Program
 After coding the program, it is important to test if it is running. If it
runs properly, then it is free from syntax error, however, there will
be instances that it does not meet the requirements of the
program.
 Testing the program involves three phases:
 Desk checking – in this phase the programmer just mentally traces or checks the logic of
the program to make sure that it is error free.
 Translation – in this phase the programming language uses a translator to ensure that the
programmer did not violate any language rules by the chosen programming language.
 Debugging – this means detecting, locating and correcting bugs. In debugging phase, you
run the program and use dummy data or test data.

9.  5. Documentation
 In this step, the programmer makes a detailed description on how
the program was created. It contains a brief narrative process
undergone by the program, from the identification of the problem,
planning of the solution through flowcharting and pseudo code,
coding of the program up to the testing results. Codes used for
the program are also included in this documentation as reference
for the next programmer who will upgrade the designed program.

10. Picture Shape Name Action
Represented
Oval Terminal Symbol Represents start
and end of
program
Parallelogram Input/Output Indicates input
and output
Rectangle Process Represents
processing of
action

11. Picture Shape Name Action
represented
Diamond Decision Represent logical
test for the
program
Hexagon Initialization/
Preparation
Prepare memory
for repetition of an
action
Arrow lines and
arrow heads
Direction Shows the flow of
the program

12. Picture Shape Name Action
Represented
Annotation Used to describe
action or variables
Circle On page director Used to show
connector or part
of program to
another part
Pentagon Off-page director Used to connect
part of a program
to another part on
the other page or
paper.

14.  Procedural Languages
 Programming languages which are considered procedural uses a
series of instructions or statements which are sequential from the
beginning to the end. This means that execution of instructions is
line by line and it is terminated after the last instruction.
 Examples of Procedural Languages are:
 BASIC(Baginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)
 COBOL(Common Business Oriented Language)
 PASCAL
 C
 PL1(Programming Language 1)

15.  Non procedural Languages
 These programming languages are considered as object-oriented
programming languages. They are event-driven which means that
a programmer selects an event that needs to occur before the
instruction or statement is executed. It is different from a
procedural language since statements are not executed line per
line instead a series of instructions are executed as a whole when
an event occurs.
 Examples of Non Procedural Languages are:
 VISUAL BASIC
 C++
 JAVA
 DELPHI

16.  There are five levels of Programming languages. These
languages are used in their respective generation.
Basically each generation is an improvement of the
latter generation.
 1. Machine Language or First Generation Programming.
-This is considered to be the lowest level of Programming
language. The program is represented by 1s and 0s. We all
know that 1s and 0s or binary number is the only language the
computer understands.
-it is very tedious task for just a simple task, the program code
required would be very long.

17.  2. Assemble Language or Second Generation Language
- Considered also as the low level programming. however.,
programmers would find this language easier to use than
machine language. It uses Mnemonic codes instead of
Binary numbers.
3. High Level Language or Third Generation Language
- it is transformed programming in the early 1960s. It
makes programming easier since the language is now
written in English like manner. If assembler is used by
assembly language, third generation languages use
translator to convert the program into machine language

18.  4. Very High Level Languages or Fourth Generation
languages
- Simplifies further the third level of generation languages
because there is a reduction in the number of
instructional statements. One hundred lines of
instructions in 3rd generation language can be reduced to
5 to 20 lines of 4th generation languages.
5. Natural Languages
- considered to be the Fifth Generation Languages. It was
called natural language because of their resemblance to
English Language. It has the capability to translate human
instructions into code that a computer understands. If it
gets confused with the user’s instructions, it asks for
further explanation.

20. Ellysa A. Balanza and Ma. Victoria Rosette N.
Bernabe of Juan G. Macaraeg National High
School, Binalonan, Pangasinan.