The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to computer programming:

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...

– process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs, which is written in one or more programming languages.

History

• History of computer science
  History of computer science
  The history of computer science began long before the modern discipline of computer science that emerged in the twentieth century, and hinted at in the centuries prior...
  
  
• History of computing hardware
  History of computing hardware
  The history of computing hardware is the record of the ongoing effort to make computer hardware faster, cheaper, and capable of storing more data....
  
   – up to third generation (1960s)
• History of computing hardware (1960s-present)
  History of computing hardware (1960s-present)
  The history of computing hardware starting at 1960 is marked by the conversion from vacuum tube to solid state devices such as the transistor and later the integrated circuit. By 1959 discrete transistors were considered sufficiently reliable and economical that they made further vacuum tube...
  
   – third generation and later
• Operating systems timeline
  Operating systems timeline
  This article presents a timeline of events in the history of computer operating systems from 1951 to the current day. For a narrative explaining the overall developments, see the History of operating systems.-1950s:* 1951...
  
  
• History of the graphical user interface
  History of the graphical user interface
  The graphical user interface, understood as the use of graphic icons and a pointing device to control a computer, has a four decade history of incremental refinements built on some constant core principles...
  
  
• History of the Internet
  History of the Internet
  The history of the Internet starts in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of computers. This began with point-to-point communication between mainframe computers and terminals, expanded to point-to-point connections between computers and then early research into packet switching...
  
  

Computing

Computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

• Command
  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....
  
  
• Computer
  Computer
  A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
  
  
  • Personal computer
    Personal computer
    A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
    
    
• 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...
  
  
• Computer language
• Computer program
  Computer program
  A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
  
   (also called "software" or "computer software")
• Computer science
  Computer science
  Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
  
  
• 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....
  
  
• Computer system (includes both the computer software and hardware)
• 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...
  
   (means the unit of information)
• Human error
  Human Error
  Human Error is the stage name of Rafał Kuczynski , a polish electronic musician, working mostly in the ambient music genre, produced only with a computer...
  
   (the computer does not grow weary unlike human beings)
• Personal computer
  Personal computer
  A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
  
  
• Server
  Server (computing)
  In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
  
   (or a terminal)
• Software - see computer program
  Computer program
  A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
  
   and 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....
  
   (instructions fed to the computer to accomplish a desired goal)
• Software suite
  Software suite
  A software suite or application suite is a collection of computer programs, usually application software and programming software of related functionality, often sharing a more-or-less common user interface and some ability to smoothly exchange data with each other.Sometimes software makers...
  
  

Computer software

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....

• 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...
  
  
  • Database management system
    Database management system
    A database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...
    
     (see also database
    Database
    A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
    
    )
  • Text editor
    Text editor
    A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
    
    
• Programming software
  • Assembler
  • Compiler
    Compiler
    A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
    
    
  • Debugger
    Debugger
    A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs . The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an instruction set simulator , a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered but which...
    
    
  • Integrated development environment
    Integrated development environment
    An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
    
     (IDE)
  • Interpreter
    Interpreter (computing)
    In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...
    
    
  • Linker
  • 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...
    
    
  • Source code editor
    Source code editor
    A source code editor is a text editor program designed specifically for editing source code of computer programs by programmers. It may be a standalone application or it may be built into an integrated development environment ....
    
    
  • Text editor
    Text editor
    A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
    
    
• 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:...
  
  

Programming

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...

• Application programming interface
  Application programming interface
  An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
  
   (API)
• Compiler
  Compiler
  A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
  
  
• Computer program
  Computer program
  A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
  
  
• Instruction
• 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...
  
  
• 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....
  
  
• Programming 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...
  
  
• Programming style
  Programming style
  Programming style is a set of rules or guidelines used when writing the source code for a computer program. It is often claimed that following a particular programming style will help programmers to read and understand source code conforming to the style, and help to avoid introducing errors.A...
  
  
• 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...
  
  

Types of programming

• Compiler optimization
  Compiler optimization
  Compiler optimization is the process of tuning the output of a compiler to minimize or maximize some attributes of an executable computer program. The most common requirement is to minimize the time taken to execute a program; a less common one is to minimize the amount of memory occupied...
  
  
• Concurrent programming
• Declarative programming
  Declarative programming
  In computer science, declarative programming is a programming paradigm that expresses the logic of a computation without describing its control flow. Many languages applying this style attempt to minimize or eliminate side effects by describing what the program should accomplish, rather than...
  
  
• Event-driven programming
  Event-driven programming
  In computer programming, event-driven programming or event-based programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events—i.e., sensor outputs or user actions or messages from other programs or threads.Event-driven programming can also be defined as an...
  
  
• Functional programming
  Functional programming
  In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data. It emphasizes the application of functions, in contrast to the imperative programming style, which emphasizes changes in state...
  
  
• Imperative programming
  Imperative programming
  In computer science, imperative programming is a programming paradigm that describes computation in terms of statements that change a program state...
  
  
• Literate programming
  Literate programming
  Literate programming is an approach to programming introduced by Donald Knuth as an alternative to the structured programming paradigm of the 1970s....
  
  
• Object-oriented programming
  Object-oriented programming
  Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
  
  
• Parsing
  Parsing
  In computer science and linguistics, parsing, or, more formally, syntactic analysis, is the process of analyzing a text, made of a sequence of tokens , to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar...
  
  
• Relativistic programming
  Relativistic programming
  Relativistic programming is a style of concurrent programming where instead of trying to avoid conflicts between readers and writers the algorithm is designed to tolerate them and get a correct result regardless of the order of events...
  
  

Components of a computer program

• Application programming interface
  Application programming interface
  An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
  
   (API)
• Instruction

Example

• Hello world program
  Hello world program
  A "Hello world" program is a computer program that outputs "Hello world" on a display device. Because it is typically one of the simplest programs possible in most programming languages, it is by tradition often used to illustrate to beginners the most basic syntax of a programming language, or to...
  
  , examples of a simple program in many different programming languages

Programming languages

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....

 –

• Comparison of programming languages
  Comparison of programming languages
  Programming languages are used for controlling the behavior of a machine . Like natural languages, programming languages conform to rules for syntax and semantics.There are thousands of programming languages and new ones are created every year...
  
  
• Compiled language
  Compiled language
  A compiled language is a programming language whose implementations are typically compilers , and not interpreters ....
  
  
• Formal semantics of programming languages
  Formal semantics of programming languages
  In programming language theory, semantics is the field concerned with the rigorous mathematical study of the meaning of programming languages and models of computation...
  
  
• Interpreted language
  Interpreted language
  Interpreted language is a programming language in which programs are 'indirectly' executed by an interpreter program. This can be contrasted with a compiled language which is converted into machine code and then 'directly' executed by the host CPU...
  
  
• Programming language dialect
  Programming language dialect
  A dialect of a programming language is a variation or extension of the language that does not change its intrinsic nature. With languages such as Scheme and Forth, standards may be considered insufficient, inadequate or even illegitimate by implementors, so often they will deviate from the...
  
  
• Programming language theory
  Programming language theory
  Programming language theory is a branch of computer science that deals with the design, implementation, analysis, characterization, and classification of programming languages and their individual features. It falls within the discipline of computer science, both depending on and affecting...
  
  

Specific programming languages

• Ada
  Ada (programming language)
  Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages...
  
  
• ALGOL
  ALGOL
  ALGOL is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in the mid 1950s which greatly influenced many other languages and became the de facto way algorithms were described in textbooks and academic works for almost the next 30 years...
  
  
• 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....
  
  
• Brainfuck
  Brainfuck
  The brainfuck programming language is an esoteric programming language noted for its extreme minimalism. It is a Turing tarpit, designed to challenge and amuse programmers, and is not suitable for practical use...
  
  
• 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....
  
  
  • C++
    C++
    C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
    
    
  • C#
• 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....
  
  
• ColdFusion
  ColdFusion
  In computing, ColdFusion is the name of a commercial rapid application development platform invented by Jeremy and JJ Allaire in 1995. ColdFusion was originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database, by version 2 it had...
  
  
• D
  D (programming language)
  The D programming language is an object-oriented, imperative, multi-paradigm, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars. It originated as a re-engineering of C++, but even though it is mainly influenced by that language, it is not a variant of C++...
  
  
• ECMAScript
  ECMAScript
  ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...
  
  
  • ActionScript
    ActionScript
    ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
    
    
  • InScript
    InScript
    InScript is a software library providing an ECMAScript engine for ECMA-262 3ed, written in C++, and some Java classes for LiveConnect. It was used by the web browser iCab 2 and 3. ICab 4 uses the WebKit Web browser engine with the ECMAScript engine JavaScriptCore. It is proprietary software,...
    
    
  • 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....
    
    
  • JScript
    JScript
    JScript is a scripting language based on the ECMAScript standard that is used in Microsoft's Internet Explorer.JScript is implemented as a Windows Script engine. This means that it can be "plugged in" to any application that supports Windows Script, such as Internet Explorer, Active Server Pages,...
    
    
  • QML
    QML
    QML is a JavaScript-based, declarative language for designing user interface–centric applications. It is part of Qt Quick, the UI creation kit developed by Nokia within the Qt framework...
    
    
  • QtScript
• Eiffel
  Eiffel (programming language)
  Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method...
  
  
• Erlang
• Forth
• Fortran
  Fortran
  Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Lisp
  • Scheme
• Mathematica
  Mathematica
  Mathematica is a computational software program used in scientific, engineering, and mathematical fields and other areas of technical computing...
  
  
• Objective-C
  Objective-C
  Objective-C is a reflective, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language.Today, it is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS: two environments derived from the OpenStep standard, though not compliant with it...
  
  
• Objective Caml
  Objective Caml
  OCaml , originally known as Objective Caml, is the main implementation of the Caml programming language, created by Xavier Leroy, Jérôme Vouillon, Damien Doligez, Didier Rémy and others in 1996...
  
  
• Object Pascal
  Object Pascal
  Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:...
  
  
• Pascal
  Pascal (programming language)
  Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...
  
  
  • Delphi
• 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...
  
  
• PHP
  PHP
  PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Ruby
  Ruby (programming language)
  Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...
  
  
• Scala
• Smalltalk
  Smalltalk
  Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...
  
  
  • Self
• Visual Basic .NET
  Visual Basic .NET
  Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
  
  

Most widely used languages

The 12 most widely used languages:

• 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....
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• C++
  C++
  C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
  
  
• PHP
  PHP
  PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
  
  
• Visual Basic
  Visual Basic
  Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
  
  
• C#
• 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...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• 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....
  
  
• Embarcadero Delphi
• Objective-C
  Objective-C
  Objective-C is a reflective, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language.Today, it is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS: two environments derived from the OpenStep standard, though not compliant with it...
  
  
• Ruby
  Ruby (programming language)
  Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...
  
  

Software engineering

Software engineering

Outline of software engineering

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to software engineering:Software engineering – application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is the application of engineering to...

 –

• Implementation
  Implementation
  Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy.-Computer Science:...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Software development process
  Software development process
  A software development process, also known as a software development life cycle , is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Similar terms include software life cycle and software process. It is often considered a subset of systems development life cycle...
  
  
  • Software development methodology
    Software development methodology
    A software development methodology or system development methodology in software engineering is a framework that is used to structure, plan, and control the process of developing an information system.- History :...
    
    
    • Agile software development
      Agile software development
      Agile software development is a group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams...
      
      
      • Extreme programming
        Extreme Programming
        Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
        
        
• Software architecture
  Software architecture
  The software architecture of a system is the set of structures needed to reason about the system, which comprise software elements, relations among them, and properties of both...
  
  
• Software reliability
• Software quality
  Software quality
  In the context of software engineering, software quality refers to two related but distinct notions that exist wherever quality is defined in a business context:...
  
  
• Software testing
  Software testing
  Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software...
  
  
• Software maintenance
  Software maintenance
  Software Maintenance in software engineering is the modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes....
  
  
• Software optimization
• Software brittleness
  Software brittleness
  In computer programming and software engineering, the term software brittleness refers to the increased difficulty in fixing older software that may appear reliable, but fails badly when presented with unusual data or altered in a seemingly minor way...
  
  

External links

• Programming Wikia
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey and Chris Meyers