The Evolution Of Programming

No matter how fast or modern computer hardware becomes, it is nothing more than a trivial exercise in manufacturing without software. Software is the vital link that allows humans to interact with their computer hardware. Programmers are the people who write this software.

When computers first began to appear, programming was done primarily through punch cards and formulas. There was no concept of an application. Output was printed onto paper. Computers were fairly limited and programming was a black art that few had any mastery of.

Fortunately, computers and programming advanced quickly. Punch cards fell out of use and computer programming languages began to develop into human-readable forms. Instead of simply inputting a string of numbers, now languages had keywords and commands that made it easier to visualize the program structure, debug it, and maintain it.

The concept of applications came into existence. These are programs that are run by a user and allow for progressive input instead of just accepting a block of data and returning a result. Word processors began to gain general acceptance as well as spreadsheet programs. They soon became integral parts of an office environment.

The computer world flew headlong into the future. Easy to use operating systems emerged. These systems allowed programmers to have a solid and consistent base on which to build and distribute their software. More programming languages were created, some of them very high level allowing programmers to focus on the programming dynamics themselves and not on trivial issues such as hardware access ports or basic disk input and output functions.

This improved the quality of the software that was developed. It also allowed a wider base of people to begin programming since the days of arcane machine languages were gone. Today, there are a wide variety of programming languages to choose from. Programming has become so accessible, and in some cases so easy to learn, that software is frequently released by hobbyists for free.

The demand for new and easier to use software has become never ending. Because of this the number of programmers has risen in the last decade and will continue to grow to meet the needs of computer users around the world.

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