Programming

Abstract

All data processors, large or small, have to be programmed to make them do anything useful. In the early days of computers, the writing of programs began as contrivance and developed into art. The art became rationalised into a scientific technique as more computers appeared and more people gained experience. Today it forms the major part of computer science. Although some aspects of modern computer science are abstruse and academic it is, nevertheless, a very practical study. The actual job of programming always forms a major part of that study. A lot of programming at the lower levels is done—and must continue to be done—on the basis of ingenuity and common sense.