Computer programming

Computer programming

Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...

 is the iterative process of writing or editing source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

. Editing source code involves testing, analyzing, and refining, and sometimes coordinating with other programmers on a jointly developed program. A person who practices this skill is referred to as a computer programmer

Programmer

A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

, software developer or coder. The sometimes lengthy process of computer programming is usually referred to as software development

Software development

Software development is the development of a software product...

. The term software engineering

Software engineering

Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...

 is becoming popular as the process is seen as an engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 discipline.

Paradigms

Computer programs can be categorized by the programming language

Programming language

A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....

 paradigm

Programming paradigm

A programming paradigm is a fundamental style of computer programming. Paradigms differ in the concepts and abstractions used to represent the elements of a program and the steps that compose a computation A programming paradigm is a fundamental style of computer programming. (Compare with a...

 used to produce them. Two of the main paradigms are imperative

Imperative programming

In computer science, imperative programming is a programming paradigm that describes computation in terms of statements that change a program state...

 and declarative.

Programs written using an imperative language specify an algorithm

Algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...

 using declarations, expressions, and statements. A declaration couples a variable

Variable (programming)

In computer programming, a variable is a symbolic name given to some known or unknown quantity or information, for the purpose of allowing the name to be used independently of the information it represents...

 name to a datatype. For example: var x: integer; . An expression yields a value. For example: 2 + 2 yields 4. Finally, a statement might assign an expression to a variable or use the value of a variable to alter the program's control flow

Control flow

In computer science, control flow refers to the order in which the individual statements, instructions, or function calls of an imperative or a declarative program are executed or evaluated....

. For example: x := 2 + 2; if x = 4 then do_something; One criticism of imperative languages is the side effect of an assignment statement on a class of variables called non-local variables.

Programs written using a declarative language specify the properties that have to be met by the output. They do not specify details expressed in terms of the control flow of the executing machine but of the mathematical relations between the declared objects and their properties. Two broad categories of declarative languages are functional languages and logical languages. The principle behind functional languages (like Haskell

Haskell (programming language)

Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the...

) is to not allow side effects

Side effect (computer science)

In computer science, a function or expression is said to have a side effect if, in addition to returning a value, it also modifies some state or has an observable interaction with calling functions or the outside world...

, which makes it easier to reason about programs like mathematical functions. The principle behind logical languages (like Prolog

Prolog

Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is declarative: the program logic is expressed in terms of...

) is to define the problem to be solved — the goal — and leave the detailed solution to the Prolog system itself. The goal is defined by providing a list of subgoals. Then each subgoal is defined by further providing a list of its subgoals, etc. If a path of subgoals fails to find a solution, then that subgoal is backtracked

Backtracking

Backtracking is a general algorithm for finding all solutions to some computational problem, that incrementally builds candidates to the solutions, and abandons each partial candidate c as soon as it determines that c cannot possibly be completed to a valid solution.The classic textbook example...

 and another path is systematically attempted.

The form in which a program is created may be textual or visual. In a visual language

Visual programming language

In computing, a visual programming language is any programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols, used...

 program, elements are graphically manipulated rather than textually specified.

Compiling or interpreting

A computer program in the form of a human-readable

Human-readable

A human-readable medium or human-readable format is a representation of data or information that can be naturally read by humans.In computing, human-readable data is often encoded as ASCII or Unicode text, rather than presented in a binary representation...

, computer programming language is called source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

. Source code may be converted into an executable image by a compiler

Compiler

A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...

 or executed immediately with the aid of an interpreter

Interpreter (computing)

In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...

.

Either compiled or interpreted programs might be executed in a batch process

Batch processing

Batch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...

 without human interaction, but interpreted programs allow a user to type commands

Command (computing)

In computing, a command is a directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task. Most commonly a command is a directive to some kind of command line interface, such as a shell....

 in an interactive session

Session (computer science)

In computer science, in particular networking, a session is a semi-permanent interactive information interchange, also known as a dialogue, a conversation or a meeting, between two or more communicating devices, or between a computer and user . A session is set up or established at a certain point...

. In this case the programs are the separate commands, whose execution occurs sequentially, and thus together. When a language is used to give commands to a software application (such as a shell

Shell (computing)

A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...

) it is called a scripting language

Scripting language

A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...

.

Compilers are used to translate source code from a programming language into either object code

Object file

An object file is a file containing relocatable format machine code that is usually not directly executable. Object files are produced by an assembler, compiler, or other language translator, and used as input to the linker....

 or machine code

Machine code

Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Each instruction performs a very specific task, typically either an operation on a unit of data Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions...

. Object code needs further processing to become machine code, and machine code is the central processing unit

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

's native code

Microcode

Microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions and/or data structures involved in the implementation of higher level machine code instructions in many computers and other processors; it resides in special high-speed memory and translates machine instructions into sequences of detailed...

, ready for execution.Compiled computer programs are commonly referred to as executables, binary images, or simply as binaries

Binary file

A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...

 — a reference to the binary

Binary numeral system

The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, represents numeric values using two symbols, 0 and 1. More specifically, the usual base-2 system is a positional notation with a radix of 2...

 file format

File format

A file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...

 used to store the executable code.

Interpreted computer programs -in a batch or interactive session- are either decoded and then immediately executed or are decoded into some efficient intermediate representation for future execution. BASIC

BASIC

BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....

, Perl

Perl

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

, and Python

Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

 are examples of immediately executed computer programs. Alternatively, Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 computer programs are compiled ahead of time and stored as a machine independent code called bytecode

Bytecode

Bytecode, also known as p-code , is a term which has been used to denote various forms of instruction sets designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter as well as being suitable for further compilation into machine code...

. Bytecode is then executed on request by an interpreter called a virtual machine

Virtual machine

A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...

.

The main disadvantage of interpreters is that computer programs run slower than when compiled. Interpreting code is slower than running the compiled version because the interpreter must decode each statement

Statement (programming)

In computer programming a statement can be thought of as the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language. A program written in such a language is formed by a sequence of one or more statements. A statement will have internal components .Many languages In computer programming...

 each time it is loaded and then perform the desired action. However, software development may be faster using an interpreter because testing is immediate when the compiling step is omitted. Another disadvantage of interpreters is that at least one must be present on the computer during computer program execution. By contrast, compiled computer programs need no compiler present during execution.

No properties of a programming language require it to be exclusively compiled or exclusively interpreted. The categorization usually reflects the most popular method of language execution. For example, BASIC is thought of as an interpreted language and C a compiled language, despite the existence of BASIC compilers and C interpreters. Some systems use just-in-time compilation

Just-in-time compilation

In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...

 (JIT) whereby sections of the source are compiled 'on the fly' and stored for subsequent executions.

Self-modifying programs

A computer program in execution

Execution (computers)

Execution in computer and software engineering is the process by which a computer or a virtual machine carries out the instructions of a computer program. The instructions in the program trigger sequences of simple actions on the executing machine...

 is normally treated as being different from the data

Data (computing)

In computer science, data is information in a form suitable for use with a computer. Data is often distinguished from programs. A program is a sequence of instructions that detail a task for the computer to perform...

 the program operates on. However, in some cases this distinction is blurred when a computer program modifies itself. The modified computer program is subsequently executed as part of the same program. Self-modifying code

Self-modifying code

In computer science, self-modifying code is code that alters its own instructions while it is executing - usually to reduce the instruction path length and improve performance or simply to reduce otherwise repetitively similar code, thus simplifying maintenance...

 is possible for programs written in machine code

Machine code

Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Each instruction performs a very specific task, typically either an operation on a unit of data Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions...

, assembly language

Assembly language

An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...

, Lisp, C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, COBOL

COBOL

COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....

, PL/1, Prolog

Prolog

Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is declarative: the program logic is expressed in terms of...

 and JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

 (the eval feature) among others.

Execution and storage

Typically, computer programs are stored in non-volatile memory

Non-volatile memory

Non-volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, NVM or non-volatile storage, in the most basic sense, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include read-only memory, flash memory, ferroelectric RAM, most types of magnetic computer...

 until requested either directly or indirectly to be executed

Execution (computers)

Execution in computer and software engineering is the process by which a computer or a virtual machine carries out the instructions of a computer program. The instructions in the program trigger sequences of simple actions on the executing machine...

 by the computer user. Upon such a request, the program is loaded into random access memory, by a computer program called an operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

, where it can be accessed directly by the central processor. The central processor then executes ("runs") the program, instruction by instruction, until termination. A program in execution is called a process

Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. It contains the program code and its current activity. Depending on the operating system , a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently.A computer program is a...

. Termination is either by normal self-termination or by error — software or hardware error.

Embedded programs

Some computer programs are embedded into hardware. A stored-program computer

Stored-program computer

A stored-program computer is one which stores program instructions in electronic memory. Often the definition is extended with the requirement that the treatment of programs and data in memory be interchangeable or uniform....

 requires an initial computer program stored in its read-only memory

Read-only memory

Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...

 to boot

Booting

In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...

. The boot process is to identify and initialize all aspects of the system, from processor register

Processor register

In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU or other digital processor. Such registers are addressed by mechanisms other than main memory and can be accessed more quickly...

s to device controllers

Device driver

In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....

 to memory

Volatile memory

Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike non-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply...

 contents. Following the initialization process, this initial computer program loads the operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 and sets the program counter

Program counter

The program counter , commonly called the instruction pointer in Intel x86 microprocessors, and sometimes called the instruction address register, or just part of the instruction sequencer in some computers, is a processor register that indicates where the computer is in its instruction sequence...

 to begin normal operations. Independent of the host computer, a hardware device

Peripheral

A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer, but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the host. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core computer architecture....

 might have embedded firmware

Firmware

In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...

 to control its operation. Firmware is used when the computer program is rarely or never expected to change, or when the program must not be lost when the power is off.

Manual programming

Computer programs historically were manually input to the central processor via switches. An instruction was represented by a configuration of on/off settings. After setting the configuration, an execute button was pressed. This process was then repeated. Computer programs also historically were manually input via paper tape or punched cards. After the medium was loaded, the starting address was set via switches and the execute button pressed.

Automatic program generation

Generative programming is a style of computer programming

Computer programming

Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...

 that creates source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 through generic

Generic programming

In a broad definition, generic programming is a style of computer programming in which algorithms are written in terms of to-be-specified-later types that are then instantiated when needed for specific types provided as parameters...

 classes

Class (computer science)

In object-oriented programming, a class is a construct that is used as a blueprint to create instances of itself – referred to as class instances, class objects, instance objects or simply objects. A class defines constituent members which enable these class instances to have state and behavior...

, prototypes

Prototype-based programming

Prototype-based programming is a style of object-oriented programming in which classes are not present, and behavior reuse is performed via a process of cloning existing objects that serve as prototypes. This model can also be known as classless, prototype-oriented or instance-based programming...

, templates

Template (programming)

Templates are a feature of the C++ programming language that allow functions and classes to operate with generic types. This allows a function or class to work on many different data types without being rewritten for each one....

, aspects

Aspect (computer science)

In computer science, an aspect of a program is a feature linked to many other parts of the program, but which is not related to the program's primary function. An aspect crosscuts the program's core concerns, therefore violating its separation of concerns that tries to encapsulate unrelated functions...

, and code generators to improve programmer

Programmer

A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

 productivity. Source code is generated with programming tool

Programming tool

A programming tool or software development tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications...

s such as a template processor

Template processor

A template processor is software or a software component that is designed to combine one or moretemplates with a data model to produceone or more result documents...

 or an integrated development environment

Integrated development environment

An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...

. The simplest form of source code generator is a macro processor, such as the C preprocessor

C preprocessor

The C preprocessor is the preprocessor for the C and C++ computer programming languages. The preprocessor handles directives for source file inclusion , macro definitions , and conditional inclusion ....

, which replaces patterns in source code according to relatively simple rules.

Software engine

Software engine

In computer science, a software engine refers to the core of a computer program. Software engines drive the functionality of the program, and are distinct from peripheral aspects of the program, such as look and feel.- Elucidation :...

s output source code or markup code

Markup language

A markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...

 that simultaneously become the input to another computer process

Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. It contains the program code and its current activity. Depending on the operating system , a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently.A computer program is a...

. The analogy is that of one process driving another process, with the computer code being burned as fuel. Application server

Application server

An application server is a software framework that provides an environment in which applications can run, no matter what the applications are or what they do...

s are software engines that deliver applications to client computers. For example, a Wiki

Wiki software

Wiki software is collaborative software that runs a wiki, i.e., a website that allows users to create and collaboratively edit web pages via a web browser. A wiki system is usually a web application that runs on one or more web servers...

 is an application server that lets users build dynamic content

Dynamic web page

A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...

 assembled from articles

Article (publishing)

An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...

. Wikis generate HTML

HTML

HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

, CSS

CSS

-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...

, Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

, and JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

 which are then interpreted

Interpreter (computing)

In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...

 by a web browser

Web browser

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

.

Simultaneous execution

Many operating systems support multitasking

Computer multitasking

In computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...

 which enables many computer programs to appear to run simultaneously on one computer. Operating systems may run multiple programs through process scheduling — a software mechanism to switch

Context switch

A context switch is the computing process of storing and restoring the state of a CPU so that execution can be resumed from the same point at a later time. This enables multiple processes to share a single CPU. The context switch is an essential feature of a multitasking operating system...

 the CPU among processes often so users can interact

Time-sharing

Time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major technological shift in the history of computing.By allowing a large...

 with each program while it runs. Within hardware, modern day multiprocessor computers or computers with multicore processors may run multiple programs.

One computer program can calculate simultaneously more than one operation using threads

Thread (computer science)

In computer science, a thread of execution is the smallest unit of processing that can be scheduled by an operating system. The implementation of threads and processes differs from one operating system to another, but in most cases, a thread is contained inside a process...

 or separate processes

Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. It contains the program code and its current activity. Depending on the operating system , a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently.A computer program is a...

. Multithreading processors are optimized to execute multiple threads efficiently.

Functional categories

Computer programs may be categorized along functional lines. The main functional categories are system software

System software

System software is computer software designed to operate the computer hardware and to provide a platform for running application software.The most basic types of system software are:...

 and application software

Application software

Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

. System software includes the operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 which couples computer hardware

Computer hardware

Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...

 with application software. The purpose of the operating system is to provide an environment in which application software executes in a convenient and efficient manner. In addition to the operating system, system software includes utility programs

Utility software

Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility or tool....

 that help manage and tune the computer. If a computer program is not system software then it is application software. Application software includes middleware

Middleware

Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...

, which couples the system software with the user interface

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

. Application software also includes utility programs that help users solve application problems, like the need for sorting.

Sometimes development environments for software development

Software development

Software development is the development of a software product...

 are seen as a functional category on its own, especially in the context of human-computer interaction and programming language design. Development environments gather system software (such as compilers and system's batch processing

Batch processing

Batch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...

 scripting languages) and application software (such as IDEs

Integrated development environment

An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...

) for the specific purpose of helping programmers create new programs.

See also

• Algorithm for the relationship between computer programs and algorithms
• Computer software
  Computer software
  Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
  
   for more information on computer programs
• Data structure
  Data structure
  In computer science, a data structure is a particular way of storing and organizing data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently.Different kinds of data structures are suited to different kinds of applications, and some are highly specialized to specific tasks...
  
  

External links

• Definition of "Program" at Webopedia
• Definition of "Software" at FOLDOC
• Definition of "Computer Program" at dictionary.com