Introduction to programming

21/07/15 05:19 AM CSC Alliance — 1
Kimera Richard
E-mail: rkimera@must.ac.ug
Phone: 0701 437989
INSTITUTE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY
Intro to Computer Programming
http://Westechies.blogspot.com
http://kimrichies.blogspot.com

MUST- ICS rkimera@must.ac.ug
What is a program
A sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret
and execute;
 If I tell you the way from ICS to Administration Block … I will tell
sequence of instructions…. Any wrong instruction leads to a
undesired result.
A program is something that runs on your computer. In
case of MS Windows program is of .EXE or .COM
extensions
MS Word, Power point, Excel are all computer programs

Discussion Question:
How advantageous is Computer
Programming in relation to National
development?

Programming Concepts
Data Types
Variables
Operators
Conditional Statements
Looping Statements
Functions and working with Files
Application programming Interfaces (API’s)
e.t.c

Data Types and Variables
Data Type: It is basically a scheme for representing data OR data
storage location e.g Int, String, float, boolean, byte, e.t.c
A variable is a named data storage location in your computer's
memory. By using a variable's name in your program, you are, in
effect, referring to the data stored there.

Operators
 Operators are symbols which take one or more operands or
expressions and perform arithmetic or logical computations.
 E.g +, -, *, /, %, =, ++, - -. ==, <, >, //, &&
 Operands are variables or expressions which are used in
conjunction with operators to evaluate the expression.
 Combination of operands and operators form an expression.

Conditional Statements
If…else statement – Tests if a certain condition
is true/ false and executes a given statement
Switch Statement – Similary works as the
if..else statement

Looping Statements
Executes a certain condition and loops up to
when the set condition is met
Examples of statement include;
While loop
Do…….while
Break and continue
goto
for

Functions/Methods
Functions/Methods are independent
sections in a code that perform some
specific task and optionally returns a value
when called
The help break a complex problem or
task into a smaller portions

Writing Computer Programs
A programmer uses an editor to create or modify files
containing C code e.g Notepad, Codeblocks, Visual
studio, Android studio, e.t.c
Code is also known as source code.
After a source file/Project has been created, the
programmer must invoke the compiler before the
program can be executed (run).
For advanced IDE’s(Integrated Drive Electronics), the
program is compiled as you code.

Introduction to programming languages
Programming languages can be;
Server side languagesServer side languages – Code is stored on the server
and accessed by a clied basically through the browser.
E.g php
Client side languagesClient side languages – code can be stored on either the
client or server e.g HTML
Interpreted languagesInterpreted languages – Code will execute even if it
contains errors, no compile is needed e.g HTML
Compiled languagesCompiled languages – Code will not execute/run if the
compile fails to understand some statements e.g C, Java
Any more???

Categories of Programming languages
Procedure languagesProcedure languages – Follow a step by step program execution
e.g C, C++, e.t.c
Object Oriented Programming languagesObject Oriented Programming languages – Classes are used a data
types for Objects.
Event Driven Languages-Event Driven Languages- The program runs basing on user actions,
this is common in GUI programming. Events can be generated
when a user clicks a button, touches the scroon, moves a mouse,
types on the key board, etc. Examples… Java, Visual Basic, C++.
OO Php
Scripting languagesScripting languages – light weight languages e.g php, python,
javascript
Mobile programming language –Mobile programming language – Light weight languages that run on
mobile devices e.g Android, windows OS, swift/Objective C,
Symbian, WebOS, Blackberry OS.

Programming support Tools
Basic Editors e.g Notepad, Notepad ++
IDE’s (WYSIWYG) e.g Netbeans,
Dreamweaver, Codeblocks
Content management systems e.g Joomla,
Wordpress, Drupal, etc
Mockups – pencil, fireworks, etc

Example of program written in C
#include <stdio.h>
int main( void )
{
int value1, value2, product ;
printf(“Enter two integer values: “) ;
scanf(“%d%d”, &value1, &value2) ;
product = value1 * value2 ;
printf(“Product = %dn”, product) ;
return 0 ;
}

Example of program written in Java
/* Sample Java Program */
public class Sample
{
public static void main (String []
args)
{
int i;
for (i = 1; i <= 10; i++)
{
System.out.println
("Number: " + i);
}
}
}

Example of program written in Objective C
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
int main() {
/* my first program in Objective-C */
NSLog(@"Hello, World! n");
return 0;
}
Source:
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/objective_c/objective_c
_environment_setup.htm

Example of program written in Android
package com.example.kim.myapplication;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}
@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
return true;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
}

Programming Languages

Discussion Question
If we are to teach Computer programming in
Secondary Schools, which one of the above
programming languages would be simpler
Lets think about the our school labs and resources
available

Scratch Is one of the best! Was it on the list?

QUESTIONS
What do you think could be the best
way of teaching computer
programming in your school?

Introduction to programming

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