Programming Languages
Programming languages are essential to information
technology. Valentino (2018) describes programming languages as instructions
used by software developers that convert to machine code to execute the software
program. Without programming languages, people would need to memorize every set
of zeroes and ones to carry out a process. It would be incredibly time-consuming,
and a software developer must be meticulous to avoid errors. Then imagine if a
mistake was made and how tedious looking for the error would be in a sea of
zeroes and ones. The thought itself puts me into a bit of an anxious puddle.
Thankfully, we have programming languages to help us go back and find the
source of the blunder more quickly.
Programming languages have been around nearly as long as computing
devices themselves. According to Vahid and Lysecky (2019), Ada Lovelace created
a computer program for the first automated mechanical computing device in the 1800s,
while Grace Hopper created a programming language that used English words to
form an assembly language in 1949. Vahid and Lysecky (2019) continue that shortly
after, the high-level language, Fortran, was developed in 1957, which gave way to
many more refined and intricate programming languages, such as Python,
Javascript, and C++. Today, we use these high-level programming languages to create
programs that allow us to utilize computers in several ways other than mathematical
computations.
Portland State University (n.d.) states that programming
language gets converted by a compiler and sent to the central processing unit
(CPU) through its integrated circuit (IC). The CPU uses the zeroes and ones to
carry out the processes instructed in the programming language. The
instructions are stored in the hard drive, and the CPU accesses them and copies
sets of directions in the RAM for use when demanded. For instance, when you
start up your computer, your operating system (OS) instructions are requested,
and you see what the OS instructions tell the CPU to show, such as your
background and application buttons. When you select an app to open, the CPU
then sends the program instructions from the hard drive to RAM for access by
the user. The better the programming language translates from the computer
language, the more available processes. Therefore, high-level programming
languages offer a variety of benefits to computer users.
When a computer user clicks on an application to begin
running, the CPU retrieves the programming language instructions saved on the
hard drive. The OS allows the processes to occur unseen by the computer user, always
running in the background and keeping a façade between the processes and what
is displayed on the screen. The programming language also runs in the background
of application processes, with the compiler sending the application’s
instructions to RAM. The OS allows all of this to remain unseen to the user.
Databases are different from programming languages in
that they are a program that allows users to structure and store data. There is
a database-specific programming language, SQL, or structured query language,
but other programming languages can be used. The programming language chosen
for a database will depend on what the database is trying to accomplish.
Programming languages are at the heart of computer
network architecture. You must choose which computer programming language to
write the network code at the beginning of each network construction. The
language you select will be contingent on what is trying to be accomplished
within that network. Management of the network will require the IT personnel to
know that specific programming language. It is also essential to consider the network’s
security when selecting the programming language. IT personnel must also learn
and recognize other languages to determine if a network has been hacked.
Overall, programming languages are vital to information
technology. It is also essential for IT personnel to be familiar with and
understand as many programming languages as they possibly can. Programming language
knowledge can be applied to many different IT positions and can be a helpful
skill set.
Portland
State University. (n.d.). Lesson: How do programming languages make
computers work? STEMRobotics. https://stemrobotics.cs.pdx.edu/node/4208.html
Vahid,
F., & Lysecky, S. (2019). Computing technology for all. zyBooks.
Valentino,
M. M. (2018). Programming Languages. Salem Press Encyclopedia of
Science.
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