Chapter 1 - An Overview of Computers and Programming Languages

central processing unit

the central processing unit - the brain of the computer

Main memory

memory that is directly connected to the CPU

random access memory

memory that is directly connected to the CPU

memory cells

an ordered sequence of cells in main memory

address

a unique location in main memory for each cell

secondary storage

a device that stores information permanently

input devices

a device that feeds data and programs into a computer

output devices

a device that the computer uses to display results

System programs

a program that controls the computer

operating system

monitors the overall activity of the computer and provides services

Application programs

a software program that performs a specific task

Analog signals

a continuous wave form used to represent such things as sound

Digital signals

represents information with a sequence of 0s and 1s

machine language

the language of a computer; a sequence of 0s and 1s

binary digit

the digit 0 or 1

bit

A binary digit 0 or 1.

binary code

a sequence of 0s and 1s

byte

a sequence of eight bits

kilobyte (KB)

abbreviated KB - 1024, or 210 bytes

American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)

American Standard Code for Information Interchange - the most commonly used encoding scheme for personal computers; the ASCII data set uses seven bits to represent 128 characters, numbered from 0 to 127

decimal system

binary

base 2 - the number system that a computer uses

mnemonic

assembler

A program that translates a program written in assembly language into an equivalent program in machine language.

high-level languages

a programming language that is similar to natural speaking languages

compiler

A program that translates instructions written in a high-level language into the equivalent machine language.

source code

a program that is written in a high-level language

source program

A program written in a high-level language.

preprocessor

a program that processes statements in a C++ program that begin with the symbol #

object program

The machine language version of the high-level language program.

library

includes prewritten code

linker

A program that combines the object program with other programs in the library and is used in the program to create the executable code.

loader

A program that loads an executable program into main memory.

Build

the command that does the linking on Visual C++ and Visual Studio

algorithm

A step-by-step problem-solving process in which a solution is arrived at in a finite amount of time.

structured design

the act of dividing a problem into smaller subproblems

structured programming

the process of implementing a structured design

Object-oriented design (OOD)

abreviated OOD - a programming methodology that identifies components called objects, which form the basis of the solution to a problem

object-oriented programming (OOP)

a programming language that implements OOD