How Do Computer Programmers Write Code?

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Computer programmers are a vital workforce. Computers are an indispensable tool in today’s society, but few of us ever spare a though to the unnoticed few who plan, design, write, test, debug, rewrite, and maintain the software that keeps the digital age running at the light speed that it is today. 

Programmers are the people who literally write the program code that gets interpreted by a machine, executed on its processor and then displayed as output for all to see: but when somebody says they’re a programmer most of us cower away in awe and confusion. Programs interact with our promotional USB devices, or manipulate our photos, or browse the web and they literally breathe life into our computers. What exactly is a programmer? What do they do? What is programming?

Programming, literally, is the term used to describe making the program that will run on a computer. Common computer programs will include the operating system and kernel (to an extent), as well as the web browser, the office suite and text editor, and even computer games. The step from an engineer coming up with an idea to us double clicking it on a promotional USB flash drive or CD is a big one, so let’s examine in a bit more detail how a computer program might come into existence.

Generally, it will start with an idea for a program. This could include a simple computer game, or something as complicated as software which runs on trading indexes in stock exchanges. The most common things for a programmer or engineer to think about when he’s planning his program will include what input is given, what process needs to happen and what the output needs to look like. A basic example might be a word processor. Here the computer program will take in information, or input, in the form of key presses. It will then process that information, or in this case turn the key presses into digital signals which can then be saved, deleted or processed more. Finally, output of a word processor might include displaying the text on a monitor, or sending the document to a printer.

A Sandisk-brand USB thumb drive, SanDisk Cruzer Micro, 4GB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once the idea is fixed in a computer programmer’s head, he might use flow charts and other tools to start to plan and design how his program might work, in terms of data flows, input and output, among other things. Then, when he’s got a rough idea of how it all needs to look, he’ll begin to ‘program’, or write the program code. Programs are usually written in languages, such as C++, Java, Python, C# or Ruby. Program languages are literally just that, a ‘language’ of instructions which provide a link between the human and the computer. Program languages are ‘human-readable’, to the extent that humans can understand them, but rather than tell a story or detail an event program languages relay instructions; like ‘if this happens do this’ or ‘when this happens do this and get rid of this’. To back-up safely and ensure no loss of work, a programmer may use a custom USB memory stick and limit the risk of not being able to open files if the computer were to fail.

When the programmer has written his code, he either compiles it (if the language he’s chosen to write in needs compiling) or executes it directly into the debugger. Here, the debugger will look for mistakes or inefficiencies in his program code, which the programmer can then rectify before saving his finished code. Some computer programs will consist of millions of lines of code; which will tell the computer everything from how to install a program and to what to do when the shutdown command is sent. Programmers are found the world over and are a very, very important occupation.

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How to Protect you Computer from Computer Viruses

Computer virus is just like its human counterpart where it infects quickly to a unprotected person. Computer virus has become synonymous with computer that no matter who you talk to, everyone has either had a computer virus or knows of someone who has gone through the agony of trying to get rid of the problem. Computer viruses are a topic that seems to affect everyone who owns a computer system, whether at work or at home. The companies that produce software programs that catch and delete these computer viruses are constantly updating their databases for virus types and definitions so that they can better protect your system against all the newest viruses. Creating virus protection programs is a multi-billion dollar business that is growing more and more everyday. The number of viruses being created and uploaded to the Internet is growing at an astounding rate of a new one every eighteen seconds! This definitely keeps the virus protection companies on their toes with research and development. 

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Because these viruses copy themselves to any computer system they come in contact with, the spread of viruses throughout a computer network or the Internet is a very fast and deadly thing to happen to your computer. Because computer viruses are a hot topic, they routinely are the subject of magazine articles and forum topics online. While some viruses do nothing more than frustrate you with pop-up ads or other messages, others are completely malicious and set out from the start to destroy the files and operating systems of your computer. 

Of the 53,000 viruses that have been identified and classed, more than 80 percent of them have been classed as malicious and capable of harming your computer system or data files. These computer viruses behave in much the same way as biological viruses by contaminating any computer systems they come in contact with. These self-executing programs are generally very small and work at damaging the way your computer works or by damaging or completely removing key system files. 

Computer Virus (Photo credit: willandbeyond)

As more and more people find out about the destructive power of these programs. They look for ways to educate themselves. In this way a great many people find out about virus protection programs and rush out to get the newest protection programs or they ensure that their computer virus protection is up to date. Many magazine and news articles about computer viruses have the effect of sometimes panicking people into believing that their computers are at risk. Having a good anti-virus program and current updates is one of the best ways to protect your computer system against virus attacks. 

This must also be coupled with good file habits such as scanning all downloaded files with the anti-virus program before opening them. It is always a good idea to take the time to ensure that the file you thought you were downloading is indeed the file you have. For instance, a file that labels itself as a movie file and is less than one megabyte in size is not a movie file. Movie files are generally nearly a thousand times that size and therefore, the file you have downloaded is most likely not a movie file and may in fact be a computer virus.

Computer viruses become a problem at the office when a virus attack manages to get past protection protocols put in place by the network administrators. All it takes is one person allowing some executable files they have been sent to open and start replicating itself through the network of computers to make life Hell for that company. Virus attacks can cripple office systems very quickly resulting in lost revenue and consumer confidence which can affect the way that stocks in that company are traded resulting in even further financial losses. That is why it is so important for larger businesses to have comprehensive computer virus protection programs in place. 

Computer Virus (Photo credit: willandbeyond)

These virus programs are much more detailed and powerful than the anti-virus programs that many consumers have protecting their computer systems. Because the fallout from a virus attack is much more financially damaging to a large corporation, the virus protection program needs to be much more robust and capable of protecting multiple systems within the corporation. Computer viruses are a hot topic among businesses simply because of the way that they can affect the company financially.

BEWARE OF REGISTRY CLEANER FOLKLORE

This article has been contributed by David Ritchie. David is a software developer and technical writer with over 10 years of professional experience. He is currently interested in registry cleaner reviews.

Registry cleaners can be very helpful computer programs. They enable a computer to regain some of the speed that the computer had when it was first purchased, and when used correctly, they are very safe aids to provide an inexpensive boost to a computer’s power. However, there are certain myths about registry cleaners that appear to be pretty prevalent throughout the tech community and these sorts of folklores frighten many computer users away from these programs.

One popular myth is that the Windows registry does not need to be cleaned because it is self regulating. This is based on the idea that anything built into the Windows operating systems. Including the registry, would be automatically optimized by Microsoft to ensure the best possible state of operation. However, while this is true to a certain degree, problems in the operating system and removal of third party programs, aging hardware, or even user actions can suddenly spur the shutting down of a computer. 

There is also a claim that registry cleaners do more harm than good by removing registry entries that are useful for a computer system. All registry cleaners are certainly not made to the same level of quality, and certain registry programs can indeed rather cause more issues than solving them. Modern computer software, however, is very advanced and problems caused by registry cleaners are very rare. Many newer programs provide a registry backup function to guard against any issues that might pop up. Even if a program does not provide this functionality, it is very easy for a computer user to make a quick backup of the computer’s registry file. If ever there is a problem with what a registry cleaner program does, the changes that it has effected can simply be rolled back.

There are some risks associated with registry cleaners and unfortunately, the folklore makes it hard to separate fact from fiction.  Registry cleaners need to be kept up to date and they do not usually need to run very often – just once in every few months should do the trick. It is also important to follow the instructions provided with a registry cleaner program very carefully (this is true with any piece of computer software, of course). When these registry cleaners are used correctly, they can provide a huge speed boost of the computer by clearing up bad entries that cause the computer to slow down.  It is, therefore, a foregone conclusion that registry cleaners are a boon rather than a bane to computers.  

Computer 101: Simple Measures To Full Registry Repair

On a normal set up of any Windows operating system, an entire registry repair is impossible as there is no built-in Windows resource that scans your entire registry for errors with the exception of the Windows Registry tool. That tool may permit manual repairing, but it is nowhere near being beginner friendly. This definitely won’t be a major problem if you don’t have issues with your computer and most likely you will not if your system is brand new and/or you haven’t included many other products to it.

When you begin using your computer, the more often you install other software, go to various other internet websites and change settings, your present system will start to show signs of slowing. You could possibly experience random freezes if you don’t do anything about it. No matter whether you treat the condition early or not, it’s rarely too late to carry out a total registry repair to resolve just about any troubles you may have discovered. By following the straightforward steps below, you can repair your Windows Registry without taking any drastic steps for example once again installing Windows or reformatting your hard disk.

Remove any Unwanted Packages

Probably the most common reasons why people have problems with registry issues are because they may have many third party applications installed which clutter the registry. There’s a big probability that you may not be using some of them and others probably have snick into your computer in the form of ad ware. Getting rid of these types of programs using standard uninstall procedures can trim some clutter in the Windows Registry even before you start performing any kind of actual registry repair procedures. Try to un-install several applications as you can and restart your personal computer afterwards to discover if there are any noticeable improvements in performance. If not, your registry might have been damaged by adware and spyware.

Image via Wikipedia

Scan your computer for Adware and spyware

Before you can undo the damage a result of the adware, you need to first determine if you really have any spyware and adware present. Attempting to correct registry issues beforehand could be a total waste of time as active spyware may cause additional harm or could even directly hinder the recovery process. Buy any good commercial anti-malware software program or stay with some of the no cost programs if you cannot manage to acquire one. Do a fast check for any Trojans or Trojan’s that may be found. Update the scanner to the most recent definitions and perform a complete scan to get the best success. If any malware are found, make sure they are dealt with. Regardless of the outcome, you must do one more step to complete the entire registry repair procedure.

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Find and Make use of a Good Registry Scanning Application

This task requires you to use the internet and search for very good registry scanning software. Almost all of the very best scanners require a purchased license therefore be sure to shop around for those with very good testimonials. Many versions permit a down loadable trial version that you can use in order to scan your laptop or computer at no cost. If lots of registry errors are found, buy the software program and do a complete scan while ensuring a back up application really backs up the registry in advance.

From there it is possible to relax as the registry scanning application does the rest. As soon as the scan is finished you can restart your computer and make use of the system realizing that you just repaired many of the systems difficulties.

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