How do computer programs work

The CPU that is on your PC contains billions of tiny transistors that use electricity to enable them to carry out the binary functionality that defines computer programs.

Computer programs work by telling the CPU to access input in a given way, manipulate it in another way, and then present the results as desired. As an example, the calculating programming calculator , which comes basic with all computers, tells the CPU that is on your computer to accept numeric input from the keyboard.

Unlike the word processing application that is being used to write this article, the calculator does not access input that comes in the form of figures. Jan 24, As said, the level of programming determines the quality and what the computer can do while that particular program runs. So you can make your computer do whatever you want because programming is easy. But the worst part is, it is time taking. To think of every possible problem that constitutes your main problem and writing a solution to each one of them is the crucial part.

It is obviously much worse than telling children what to do. Because after all it only is a machine! Differences Between A Microprocessor and Microcontroller. A guide to choose the best computer table for you. All Rights Reserved. About Us Contact Us.. To be able to write a computer program by typing out billions of 1s and 0s would require superhuman brainpower, and even then it would probably take you a lifetime or two to write.

That line of code is written in the Python programming language. Put simply, a programming or coding language is a set of syntax rules that define how code should be written and formatted. Thousands of different programming languages make it possible for us to create computer software, apps and websites.

Instead of writing binary code, they let us write code that is relatively easy for us to write, read and understand. Each language comes with a special program that takes care of translating what we write into binary code.

Because different languages are designed to be used for different purposes — some are useful for web development, others useful for writing desktop software, others useful for solving scientific and numeric problems, and so on. Low-level languages are closer to the binary code a computer understands, while high-level languages bear a lot less resemblance to binary code.

A program is simply a text file, written in a certain coding language. The code inside a program file is called the source code. Every coding language has its own file extension for identifying code files written in that language. To make a program, you write the code in a plain text editor like Notepad and save the file to your computer.