Creating a program is as similar to making a first drawing in the kindergarten educational level, all you have to do is learn the basics of that program development and apply it as it should be.
Now getting acquainted with a specific programming language is not really the problem most developers face, but applying it accordingly is the stress they despise. The world today at large doesn’t just revolve around displaying your already developed apps, software, IOT’s and the host of others, but understanding the syntax of such languages and being able to explain its function gives a unique idea of what programming is all about.
What is program: It is a set of instructions given to the computer to determine what it is to do (achieve). i.e. A program is already a set of codes, data, command or instruction that tells a computer the particular task it is to perform at a given time.
What is computer programming: Computer programming (often shortened to as programming or coding), is the process or method of writing, testing, debugging/troubleshooting and maintaining a set of instructions (source code), defined for solving a particular problem using a computer. Good programming is generally considered to be the measured application art, craft and engineering, with the goal of producing an efficient and maintainable software (program) solution. The discipline differs from many other technical professions in that programmers generally do not need to be licensed or pass any standardized (or governmentally regulated) certification tests in order to call themselves “programmers” or even “software engineers”.
Purpose of programming: The main purpose of programming is to create a program that exhibits a certain behavior or pattern (customization).Writing a source code requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain to be used on. Alternatively. Programming is the act of transforming requirements into something that a computer can execute. Problem solving on computer is a task of expressing the solution to the problem in terms of simple concepts, operations and computer code (program) to obtain the result. To achieve such program, one needs to note the following:
- Firstly, understand the problem: Decide what should be calculated or worked on by the computer. What will be the input data required (if any). This is the problem formulation.
- Write the steps of computation that are necessary to arrive at the solution. This is setting up the algorithm (steps to solve it).
- Prepare a flowchart (Diagram that best describes how the steps would be executed) corresponding to the algorithm.
- Develop the computer program. Test and run it on the computer.
Features of a good computer program - Reliability
A developed program for a particular application can be depended upon to do what it is supposed to accomplish. How often the results of a program are correct. This depends on prevention of resulting from data conversion and prevention of errors resulting from buffer overflows, underflows and zero division. - To Meet User’s Needs:
A developed system has a purpose for which it is developed. A developed program is a failure if it cannot meet the objectives for which it is proposed and designed, that is, if the potential users cannot use it either because it is too complex or too difficult. - Time of Development At The Expense Of Budget:
Estimates of time and cost for writing computer programs have frequently been under or over estimated. The components of a structured disciplined approach to programming are:
i) Proper control and management of time and cost required.
ii) Increased programmer productivity
iii) More accurate estimates. - Error-Free:
Almost all large set of programs contain errors. If a program is designed and developed in a disciplined structured approach, it minimizes the likelihood of errors and facilitates detection/correction of such errors during program testing. - Error-Resistant:
A good program should be designed in such a way that it can perform validation run on each input data to determine whether or not they meet the criteria set for them. Eg Reasonableness check, Existence check, Dependency check, etc. - Maintainable Code:
A good program design will always be easy to change or modify when the need arises.
Programs should be written with the maintenance activity in mind. The structure, coding and documentation of the program should allow another programmer to understand the logic of the program and to make a change in one part of a program without unknowingly introducing an error in another part of the same program. - Portable Code:
A good program design will be transferable to a different computer having a language translator for that language without substantial changes or modification - Readability:
The program codes will be easy for a programmer to read and understand the logic involved in the programming. - Storage:
Avoid verbosity, that is, it will not be allowed to be unnecessary long, thereby consuming much storage that will be required for processing data and storage of information produced from processing. - Efficiency:
The amount of system resources a program consumes (processor time, memory space, slow devices, network bandwidth and to some extent even user interaction), the less the better. - Robustness:
How well a program anticipates situations of data type conflict and other incompatibilities that result in run time errors and program halt. The focus is mainly on user interaction and handling of - Usability:
The clarity and intuitiveness of a programs output can make or break its success. This involves a wide range of textual and graphical elements that makes a program easy and comfortable to use.