Early Programming and Intro to Compiling

Question 1

What is the benefit of having multiple cores in a computer?

Answer 1

It allows you to do multiple calculations in parallel

Question 2

At the most fundamental level, what do computers use to do calculations?

Answer 2

Binary: Computers work on electronic switches or series of electrical pulses.
Two states: ON is ‘1’ and OFF is ‘0’

Question 3

What was computer programming like before the 1950s?

Answer 3

The programmer had to set ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’ manually (Punch cards, ENIAC vacuum tubes)

Question 4

What technology was developed during the 1950s that made it so that programmers no longer had to work in binary?

Answer 4

Assembly Language

Question 5

What is machine language?

Answer 5

Binary

Question 6

What is assembly language?

Answer 6

Early programming language where common binary sequences were replaced with commands

Question 7

What are High-Level languages?

Answer 7

Modern programming languages that aim to be human readable (ex. Java or C#)

Question 8

What was the first programming language?

Answer 8

FORTRAN (1957)

Question 9

What happens when you press play in a processing program?

Answer 9

The processing compiler turns it into a ‘real’ Java program. Then, the Java compiler translates it into Java Byte Code, which is then run by the Java Virtual Machine on the computer

Question 10

What does a compiler do?

Answer 10

Takes a programming language and translates it into machine language

Question 11

Why was the Java Virtual Machine invented?

Answer 11

Different computers speak different machine languages, we compile a program to run on some imaginary virtual machine. All existing Java programs can be run on any machine that has had a JVM made for it without having to be recompiled