What is a computer program?

Answer 1

A computer program is a list of instructions written in a special language that the computer understands. It tells the computer which operations to perform and in what sequence to perform them. Programs can be written in various "languages", such as C/C++, Java, Assembly, etc., which will then be converted to machine language by one of two pieces of software, a compiler or an interpreter.

A computer program is a sequence of one or more instructions and their operands written in machine code that a computer can understand. Programs are usually written in a high-level language that is easier for humans to understand, which the computer itself can then compile (using another program) into machine code that it understands. Once a program is compiled it can then be executed. Machine code can also be hand-crafted using a low-level language known as Assembler. Every machine has its own version of Assembler, specific to its particular architecture. By contrast, Disassembly is the process of reverse-engineering machine code in order to reproduce the original Assembler instructions. However, the resulting code will lack the comments and symbolic code that were used by the original author of the program (all of which were stripped out during assembly).

Some computer programs are not compiled into machine code. These programs are designed to be run within another program (which is itself machine coded). For instance, Java programs are compiled into byte code suitable for the Java virtual machine (JVM). The JVM is a machine code program that understands the byte code instructions and translates them into suitable machine code. This is known as interpretation, thus Java is an interpretive high-level language.

As a result of this interpretation, Java programs are very much slower than their equivalent machine coded programs. By contrast, C++ is compiled to native machine code and is therefore many times faster than an equivalent Java program. However, C++ programs must be compiled separately for each supported platform, whereas Java will run on any platform that runs a JVM implementation, without any need to recompile.

Answer 2

Well to start a computer is simply a device that is able to take raw input or "data" from a user, store it, process it, and eventually output information. Without programs a computer would have no purpose. A computer in the raw form is no more than a bunch of wires, metal, and plastic. The internal parts of a computer work together in a way that enables it to process information. The most important part in a computer is the hard-drive. Since we no longer use punch card readers, the hard drive is essentially half of what makes up the "brain" of your computer; and the processor is the other half. The hard-drive stores any and all information necessary for the computer to run, as well as the information you want to store. The processor takes that information and puts it to use. A program is a piece of information which has a sole purpose of creating output from input, for instance: I would assume you have used the internet. More than likely you used the PROGRAM Internet Explorer to access the net. This program takes user input (the web address that the user enters), processes it (runs a series of "mini-programs" to find the site the user entered) and once it has finished it displays the output or information; which will either be a webpage, or a page not found error screen. So simply put a computer program uses the computers hardware to take raw data entered from a user and process it into some sort of output we know as information.

Answer 3

A program is a detailed set of instructions that tells computers what to do. Even the fact that I can type a key on my keyboard and the letter that I typed appears on the screen happens only because there is a program that tells the computer what the keys on the keyboard are supposed to do. Without programs, a computer cannot do anything.

Answer 4

A computer program is simply a file that "does something". It performs an action.

Answer 5

It must consist solely of commands that the computer (the CPU) can carry out.

(Remarks that are ignored by the CPU are allowed, but are not really part of the program.)

Answer 6

A program is a sequential list of instructions that performs a task.