Programming Midterm Study Guide

Programs that make a computer useful for everyday tasks are known as application software.

System software – the programs that control and manage the basic operations of a computer.
System software types:
Operating system: most fundamental set of programs on a computer. Controls the internal operations of the computers hardware manage all of the devices connected to the computer, allows data to be saved to and retrieved from storage device, and allows other programs to run on the computer.
Utility programs: performs a specialized task that enhances the computer’s operation or safeguard data. Examples are virus scanners, file compression programs, and data backup programs.
Software Development tools: the programs that programmers use to create, modify, and tests software. Assemblers, compilers, and interpreters are examples.

Interpreter is a program that both translates and executes the instructions in a high-level language program.
The statements that a programmer writes in a high-level language are called source code or code.
Syntax error is a mistake such as a misspelled key word, a missing punctuation character, or the incorrect use of an operator.

NOTE: programs that are compiled generally execute faster than programs that are interpreted because a compiled program is already translated entirely to machine language when it is executed. A program that is interpreted must be translated at the time it is executed.

Compiler is a program that translate high-level language program into a separate machine language program.
Words that make up a high-level programming language are known as key word or reserved words.
Operator performs various operation on data.
Syntax is a set of rules that must be strictly followed when writing a program.
Statements is the individual instructions that you use to write a program