Programming Reading Assignment

  1. A program is a set of precise instructions telling a computer what to do.
  2. Complexity should be avoided so that programs are easily understood by others.
  3. A programming language is an artificially constructed language used to instruct computers. Like human languages, computer languages allow words and phrases to be combined in new ways, making it possible to express new concepts.
  4. Javascript has almost nothing to do with the programming language named Java. The similar name was inspired by marketing considerations rather than good judgement.
  5. After its adoption outside of Netscape, a standard document was written to describe the way the Javascript language should work so that the various pieces of software that claimed to support JavaScript we’re actually talking about the same language. This is called the ECMAScript standard, after the Ecma International organization that did the standardization. In practice, the terms ECMAScript and JavaScript can be used interchangeably – they are two names for the same language.
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Excellent answers, @Brett_Schor!
Clear, concise and with just the right amount of detail :+1:

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  1. What is a program? Set of instructions - script

  2. What can you say about complexity in programming?

keep it simple, short and concise.

  1. What function do programming languages have?
    Programming languages serve to make automate and scale production tasks.

  2. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
    They’re both programming languages. They have their own syntax

  3. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript? ECMAScript is a standard for Javascript

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  1. What is a program?
    A set of instructions telling a computer what to do.
  2. What can you say about complexity in programming?
    The basics of programming are easy to understand but the complexity of a program can grow and become very confusing. It’s important to keep an overview, keep the code clean and don’t get confused.
  3. What function do programming languages have?
    A programming language helps communicating effectively, which operations a computer should perform. With the help of programming languages we don’t have to communicate in binary (zeros and ones) with the computer, which is easier to understand and more efficient.
  4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
    They have almost nothing in common but a similar name due to marketing reasons.
  5. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
    ECMAscript is the standard that defines, how Javascript should work.
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1. What is a program?   In its simplest form, a program is text typed by a programmer to execute specific commands.  A program is able to combine multiple commands  to achieve complex solutions very quickly.  The book stated, "A program is a building of thought, its costless to build, it is weightless, and it grows easily under our typing hands".  I thought that was a nice, out of the box way to think about it. 

2. What can you say about complexity in programming?  That without care, a program can grow out of control…its keeping programs under control that is the main problem of programming.  "The art of programming is the skill of controlling complexity".

3. What function do programming languages have?  Helps the programmer talk about the actions the computer need to perform on a higher level.  It helps omit details, provides building blocks, allows personal building blocks to be defined, and makes it easy to compose those blocks.

4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?  They have nothing to do with each other, it was a marketing ploy as at the time the Java language was being heavily marketed and gaining popularity.

5. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript? ECMAScript is a standard created to describe how JavaScript language should work.  This ensured the software claiming to support JavaScript was actually talking about the same language….ECMAScript and JavaScript are two names for the same language.
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  1. A program is a set of instructions which tell a computer what to do

  2. The fundamental rules of programming can be simple. However, if a programmer is not careful, the complexity can increase, causing even themselves to be lost when reading / amending the code

  3. The function of a programming language is to take an artifically created / human-like input language to be converted into a format readable by CPUs (ie. 1’s & 0’s)

  4. Java and Javascript languages have nothing in common, apart from the Java part shared in their names. This is due to Java been popular when Javascript was been developed in 1995, where the name was chosen to ‘jump on the popularity train’

  5. ECMAScript & JavaScript are both names for the standards of the same programming language

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1. What is a program?
-A program is a set of instructions given to computer
2. What can you say about complexity in programming?
-The art of programming is the skill of controlling complexity.
3. What function do programming languages have?
-It makes the set of instructions more efficient and easier to understand
4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
-It is unrelated. Just for marketing purpose.
5. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
-It is a standard document that standardize JavaScript. They are more or less the same.

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  1. What is a program?
    A program is simply a set of instructions telling the computer what to do.

  2. What can you say about complexity in programming?
    Programming languages are designed to have a clear and simple set of fundamental rules, but as each programmer has their own style and may not necessarily perform best practises all the time, the program can become a tangled web of code that can be difficult for even the programmer to follow. Even if the programmer does use best practises, the more difficult a task you are trying to achieve the more complex the code will most likely be.

  3. What function do programming languages have?
    The functions of a programming language are to be simple enough, with basic fundamental principles, that anyone can learn while at the same time allowing seemingly impossible tasks to be accomplished easily (with the aid of a computer’s ability to compute an amazing amount of things in very little time) by having a user input some data in a particular way.

  4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
    The relationship between Java and Javascript is that they both share the same 4 letters. Other than this, very little. Java came first and was apparently trending and the creators of Javascript piggy backed off the popularity of this name and we still use Javascript today.

  5. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
    ECMAScript is a document describing the way the Javascript language should work. ECMAScript andJavaScript can be used interchangeably as they, in practise, are talking about the same language.

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  1. A program is basically a script that consists of some very precise instructions, telling a computer what to do. “A program is a building of thought, it is costless to build, it is weightless, and it grows easily under our typing hands”. - Eloquent JavaScript

  2. A program can easily become very complex and monumental. Building a big program can in a way be like building your own maze, one that you could easily to get lost in. “The art of programming is the skill of controlling complexity - Eloquent JavaScript.”

  3. Without programming languages, all we would be left with would be the binary machine language of ones and zeroes. A programming language allows a programmer to talk about the actions that the computer has to perform at a higher level, and provides building blocks as well as allowing the programmer to define his or her own building blocks, in an easy and doable way.

  4. Almost none. The name “JavaScript” was adopted when JavaScript was introduced because of the popularity and heavy marketing of Java. The name was used because of marketing considerations, because someone thought it was a good idea to try to ride along with Java’s success by using a similar name. And now we’re stuck with it.

  5. I barely understood what i read about this topic. But it seems ECMAScript and JavaScript are basically the same thing and that we can treat the names as interchangeable. They are both names for the same language.

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What is a program?
-Programming is the act of constructing a program,a set of precise instructions telling a computer what to do.

What can you say about complexity in programming?
-It is very complex,but can be very rewarding.

What function do programming languages have?
-A programming language is an artificially constructed language used to instruct computers.

What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
-JavaScript has almost nothing to do with the programming language named Java. The similar name was inspired by marketing considerations rather than good judgment.

What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
-A standard document written to describe the way the JavaScript language should work so that the various pieces of software that claimed to support JavaScript were actually talking about the same language.
This is called the ECMAScript standard,In practice, the terms ECMAScript and JavaScript can be used interchangeably—they are two names for the same language.

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  1. What is a program?
    A program is a piece of text instructing a computer to perform a task you want it to do.

  2. What can you say about complexity in programming?
    The art of programming is the skill of controlling complexity. Programs ca easily become complex.

  3. What function do programming languages have?
    The purpose of a computer language is to communicate instructions to a computer

  4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
    Java and Javascript have almost nothing in common. Javascript bit off the popular marketing of Java back in 1995

  5. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
    After Javascript started to become adopted outside the Netscape environment it was necessary for a standard to be established.This was to ensure all were on the same page.The standard was called ECMAScript. Javascript and ECMAScript can be used interchangeably.

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  1. is a collection of instructions that can be executed by a computer to perform a specific task.
  2. is a term that includes many properties of a piece of software, all of which affect internal interactions
  3. All programming functions have input and output. The function contains instructions used to create the output from its input.
  4. There is none
  5. ECMAScript is a Standard for scripting languages such as JavaScript
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  • What is a program?
    a set of precise instructions telling a computer what to do

  • What can you say about complexity in programming?
    Complexity has diminished over the years as programming languages have been invented and have matured.

  • What function do programming languages have?
    reduce complexity and remove uninteresting actions

  • What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
    None - JavaScript was named after Java by some marketeers to get a free ride on the tail of the popular Java language.

  • What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
    ECMAScript is the standardization of several versions of Javascript that were circulating. Today ECMAScript = Javascript.

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  1. Set of tasks that carried out by computer.
  2. It’s increased due to amount of people using computing devices as well as advancements in hardware for example smartphones becoming more powerful than laptops as a result - evolution of the large-scale projects that introduce complexity.
    3.To present human ideas in terms of machine language.
  3. Javascript is an extension of java
  4. A scripting language that helps to standardise Javascript
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  1. Program is a set of precise instructions telling a computer what to do.
  2. Complexity in programming easily goes to out of control.
  3. It is easy to read and instruct for humans what computer should do.
  4. There is no relationship between them.
  5. ECMAScript and Javascript are the same language.
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  1. A program is a piece of text typed by a programmer that directs the computer to do what it says.

  2. The complexity in programming is that it can become very complicated fast without controls in place. Simple and readable otherwise it grows out of control and becomes complicated and unreadable.

  3. Programming languages matter because the same program can be expressed in different ways ‘long, short, readable and unreadable’. A good language allows you to omit details and provide convenient building blocks and define them all the while making these blocks easy to compose.

  4. The relationship between Java and Javascript is that they are not related and Javascript was coined as a marketing tactic and simply copied the name much like Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

  5. ECMAScript is the standard document to describe the way javascript should work so various pieces of software that claim to support Javascript were actually talking about the same language. Its the quality control. It is the same language both names can be used to describe it.

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  1. What is a program?
    A program is a piece of text, written by a programmer, that instructs the computer and coordinates the various ways of how the computer parts should interconnect and coordinate to solve the task at hand.

  2. What can you say about complexity in programming?
    While simple at a basic level, programs can rapidly become much more complex, up to a point where the programmer himself loses control.

  3. What function do programming languages have?
    They instruct computers to execute desired tasks.

  4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?
    Almost none - JavaScript adopted the name of Java for the heavy marketing that Java had undergone piggi-backing on the branding of Java.

What is ECMAScript and how is it related to Javascript?
ECMAscript was the name given to Javascript once it got adopted and standardised outside of Netscape. The two terms can be used interchangeably as they refer to the same programming language.

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A rule set that computers follow.

Organisation seems to be a factor that makes programming harder or more complex.

its a way for humans to make computers do things for them.

Java was a coding language and I think java script tried to copy them or use a similar name for marketing purposes, or it was the other way around I’m not sure.

Its the same thing as Javascript and is just a way for different softwares to interact with ECMAscript or Javascript

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1. What is a program?

A program is a piece of text instructions written in a language that a computer can understand, which instructs it to perform certain functions and operations.

2. What can you say about complexity in programming?

The complexity of the programming text scales based on the complexity of the desired function of the program. The fundamental rules are simple but as programs are built on top of those rules, they tend to become more complex.

3. What function do programming languages have?

A good programming language should help the programmer by allowing him to talk about the desired actions he wants the computer to perform on a higher level. It helps to omit tedious details, provides you with convenient building blocks, allows you to define your own building blocks and makes those blocks easy to compose.

4. What is the relationship between Java and Javascript?

Other than the fact that they are both programming languages, nothing. Java was a popular programming language in the nineties when JavaScript came about, so JavaScript used a similar name to try to better market the language.

5. What is ECMAScript and how is it related to JavaScript?

ECMAScript is the same language as JavaScript. The ECMAScript Standard was a document written to describe a standardized way that JavaScript should work, so that softwares that claimed to support JavaScript were indeed talking about the same language.

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  1. Depending on one’s point of view, a program is a sequence of zeroes and ones or on-or-off transistor states in a computer’s hardware memory, a logical construct in a programmer’s mind, or a string of written instructions on a screen or on a sheet of paper.
  2. According to the author, “the art of programming is the skill of controlling complexity.” In other words, complexity is an undesirable byproduct of large-scale program development that needs to be kept in check. In order to do so, a balance needs to be found between a strict adherence to certain best coding practices on the one hand and a free embrace of highly creative and maximally efficient problem-solving strategies on the other.
  3. The purpose of a programming language is to translate the logical and operational meaning of the sequences of zeroes and ones that constitute a program at the innermost computer-memory level into strings of commonly used words or mathematical symbols that are, as such, more easily accessible to human perception and thought…
  4. There is no substantive relationship. Java happened to be a popular language at the time when Javascript was invented, and the appeal to former in the name of the latter was nothing more than a meaningless marketing ploy.
  5. The words ‘ECMAScript’ and ‘Javascript’ are synonymous.
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