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Consider what you should have learned by going over this material...
- Computers manage data (e.g., letters, numbers, words, and
pictures) into information ("the average cost of a house in this
neighborhood is $175,000.00").
- The basic computer architectures consists of:
 | Input - keyboard, mouse, etc. |
| Output - Monitor, printer, etc. |
| Processor - central processing unit |
| Storage or memory - short (RAM or random access memory) and
long term (hard drive, floppy) |
| Control - the program that runs everything |
Software programs come in a variety of formats, most commonly...
| Compiled into machine code instructions (assembly, C, C++,
Visual Basic). |
| Pre-compiled into byte-codes (Java) |
| Interpreted - readable script that is read and executed at
run-time. |
Object-based programming is the foundation of modern business-based
applications development using languages such as C++, Visual Basic, Java,
and JavaScript.
Objects have three primary features:
- Properties: a value that describes some feature of the object
such as the color, a caption, or position.
- Events: things you can do to an object such as click it.
- Methods: things the object can do such as move or be refreshed.
Computer data is built on...
| Bit - a one or zero |
| Byte - 8 bits which represent strings, numbers, graphics and
audio (in single bytes or sets of bytes) |
| Files - made up of bytes |
Variables are used to store and manipulate data, they come in two
flavors:
- Locally scoped that exist during the execution of a subroutine
or function.
- Globally scoped that exist during the life of a program or
major segment of a program.
Programs are logically managed via...
| If-then statements in which the if-clause is evaluated to true
(triggering the then clause) or false (triggering the else clause). |
| Do-loops which run continuously until some condition changes. |
| For-next loops which iterate through a sequence (eg., from 1 to 100) |
Subroutines process instructions when called; functions
process instruction and return data when called.
Learning one programming language is a start--understanding how
computers and software work is the key to learning multiple languages.
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