Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Third Edition

Summary

Understanding the inner workings of your computer is a prerequisite for becoming a master programmer. Only after learning about what is under the hood can your programming skills blossom. Computer programming has come a long way since the early days of wiring panels and switches. High-level languages such as COBOL and FORTRAN offered a much easier approach to making computers do what you wanted them to do.

• Memory is little more than on and off switches.

• The pattern of bits that corresponds to a specific character is determined by the ASCII table.

• Once keyboards were attached to computers, many advances began. The earliest non-binary programming language was called assembler language. The assembler translates assembler coded mnemonics into ...