Portal:Computer programming

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Introduction

Computer programming is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific computing result or to perform a specific task. Programming involves tasks such as: analysis, generating algorithms, profiling algorithms' accuracy and resource consumption, and the implementation of algorithms in a chosen programming language (commonly referred to as coding). The source code of a program is written in one or more languages that are intelligible to programmers, rather than machine code, which is directly executed by the central processing unit. The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of instructions that will automate the performance of a task (which can be as complex as an operating system) on a computer, often for solving a given problem. Proficient programming thus often requires expertise in several different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms, and formal logic.

Tasks accompanying and related to programming include: testing, debugging, source code maintenance, implementation of build systems, and management of derived artifacts, such as the machine code of computer programs. These might be considered part of the programming process, but often the term software development is used for this larger process with the term programming, implementation, or coding reserved for the actual writing of code. Software engineering combines engineering techniques with software development practices. Reverse engineering is a related process used by designers, analysts and programmers to understand and re-create/re-implement. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

... that the Toronto-based Human Computing Resources was a pioneer in the commercialization of the Unix operating system?
... that the editing style of Every Frame a Painting was formulated to avoid copyright claims from YouTube's Content ID system?
... that in 1960, British AI researcher Donald Michie made a noughts-and-crosses-playing algorithm out of matchboxes?
... that the crab hacker barnacle is a parasite of crabs and manipulates its host into caring for its eggs?
... that Rui Pinto uncovered four terabytes of confidential information about association football finances despite having no formal education in computer science?
... that Kathleen Hall Jamieson, author of Cyberwar, thinks it "highly probable" that Russia changed the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election?

Computer programming news

11 January 2021 – Aftermath of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol: The Parler social networking service goes offline after Amazon discontinued providing cloud computing services. The company's chief executive said that the service will be down "longer than expected" as "most people with enough servers to host us have shut their doors to us." (CNBC)
17 November 2020 – Censorship of Facebook: The Solomon Islands Cabinet passes a ban on the use of social media platform Facebook in the country, citing public misuse of the platform, and a need for stricter cybercrime legislation and regulation. Communications Minister Peter Shannel Agovaka says the ban does not require parliament's approval, and will be enforced once operators "establish a firewall" to block Facebook. (RNZ)
3 November 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: Bahrain grants emergency use approval for a vaccine candidate produced in a partnership between Sinopharm and Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company Group 42 on frontline workers. (Reuters)
30 October 2020 – Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections: Reuters reports that Fancy Bear, the Russian hacker group accused of interfering in the 2016 United States presidential election, had attempted, earlier this year, to hack the email accounts of the California and Indiana branches of the Democratic Party, and those of influential think tanks like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. (Reuters) (The Verge)
19 October 2020 –: The United States Department of Justice announces charges against six current and former Russian military officers for allegedly attempting to engage in malware and hacking in the 2018 Winter Olympics and elections in other countries. (ABC News)
17 August 2020 – Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics: Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announces that the Ofqual has discarded the use of an algorithm to award the final grades of GCE Advanced Level and General Certificate of Secondary Education candidates in lieu of the exams that were cancelled due to the pandemic, instead basing the qualifications on teacher-assessed grades. The decision comes after hundreds of students in England protested following the release of the Advanced Level results on August 13, which saw around 40% of teacher-predicted grades downgraded under the algorithm. (The Guardian), (Reuters via The Straits Times)