Programming is the process of making a set of instructions that you give to a computer to perform a task.
A program is a file that contains a bunch of computer instructions that run in sequence or together to perform the intended task.
There are many different types of programs, ways to program, and programming languages.
A programming language is made up of many different functions and things that help translate human language to things that computers can understand. For example, instead of writing in 1’s and 0’s programming languages make it so you can use words, phrases, and operators (like +, -, =). It takes these words, phrases, or operators and translates them into understandable instructions for computers. Vic Chouchanian from California State University Northridge states “Without these languages many modern day inventions would be reduced to expensive silicon and plastic paperweights” which goes to show that without the ease of translation between human language and computer language modern day devices would not be around.
According to a survey conducted by Stack Overflow in 2020, the top 5 most used programming languages are:
JavaScript 69.7%
HTML/CSS 62.4%
SQL 56.9%
Python 41.6%
Java 38.4%
Programs are used everywhere, almost every electronic device uses programs if not thousands of them. Without programs and programming technological advancements would take so much longer, or they just wouldn’t happen at all. Every time you press something on your phone, press a key on a keyboard, or click a button on a website, a program (or usualy many) runs to do whatever is needed in order to open an app, type, or anything else. Programming is objectively essential to modern society and it practically makes the world run. “Technology production is an essential part of an evolving world”, says the computer science team at GCU, and without it the world would come to a halt.