programming

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Writing instructions in a programming language for the control of a computer. Applications programming is for end-user programs, such as accounts programs or word-processing packages. Systems programming is for operating systems and the like, which are concerned more with the internal workings of the computer.

There are several programming styles. Procedural programming, in which programs are written as lists of instructions for the computer to obey in sequence, is by far the most popular. It is the ‘natural’ style, closely matching the computer's own sequential operation. Declarative programming, as used in the programming language PROLOG, does not describe how to solve a problem, but rather describes the logical structure of the problem. Running such a program is more like proving an assertion than following a procedure. Functional programming is a style based largely on the definition of functions. There are very few functional programming languages, HOPE and ML being the most widely used, though many more conventional languages (for example C) make extensive use of functions. Object-oriented programming, the most recently developed style, involves viewing a program as a collection of objects that behave in certain ways when they are passed certain ‘messages’. For example, an object might be defined to represent a table of figures, which will be displayed on screen when a ‘display’ message is received.

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