Computer programming

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Computer programming is the process of telling a computer to do certain things by giving it instructions. These instructions are called programs. A person who writes instructions is a computer programmer. The instructions come in different programming languages, like C++ or Java. Sometimes, programmers use special software, such as integrated development environments (IDEs), which have many special parts, including a text editor, to help them to type and edit programs.

Computers can understand instructions if those instructions are written in machine code, meaning long patterns of ones and zeroes. Writing a whole program in machine code would take a long time, so instructions are written in special programming languages that are easier for people to understand. The computer converts that into "computer form" instructions (in other words, machine code) so the computer can follow them. The instructions can also be written in an assembly language, which is almost the same as machine code but a little easier to understand.

Converting a program from its original programming language to machine code is called "compiling" the program. Not all languages need to be compiled. Some languages, called interpreted languages, use interpreters instead. An interpreter is a program specially written to read a programming language and execute its instructions right away. For example, Python and JavaScript use interpreters.