Infosys Generic program-

Introduction to Programming

A program is a set of instructions that tell the computer to do various things; sometimes the instruction it has to perform depends on what happened when it performed a previous instruction. This section gives an overview of the two main ways in which you can give these instructions, or “commands” as they are usually called. One way uses an interpreter, the other a compiler. As human languages are too difficult for a computer to understand in an unambiguous way, commands are usually written in one or other languages specially designed for the purpose.

Interpreters

With an interpreter, the language comes as an environment, where you type in commands at a prompt and the environment executes them for you. For more complicated programs, you can type the commands into a file and get the interpreter to load the file and execute the commands in it. If anything goes wrong, many interpreters will drop you into a debugger to help you track down the problem.
The advantage of this is that you can see the results of your commands immediately, and mistakes can be corrected readily. The biggest disadvantage comes when you want to share your programs with someone. They must have the same interpreter, or you must have some way of giving it to them, and they need to understand how to use it. Also users may not appreciate being thrown into a debugger if they press the wrong key! From a performance point of view, interpreters can use up a lot of memory, and generally do not generate code as efficiently as compilers.

Compilers

Compilers are rather different. First of all, you write your code in a file (or files) using an editor. You then run the compiler and see if it accepts your program. If it did not compile, grit your teeth and go back to the editor; if it did compile and gave you a program, you can run it either at a shell command prompt or in a debugger to see if it works properly.
Obviously, this is not quite as direct as using an interpreter. However it allows you to do a lot of things which are very difficult or even impossible with an interpreter, such as writing code which interacts closely with the operating system—or even writing your own operating system! It is also useful if you need to write very efficient code, as the compiler can take its time and optimize the code, which would not be acceptable in an interpreter. Moreover, distributing a program written for a compiler is usually more straightforward than one written for an interpreter—you can just give them a copy of the executable, assuming they have the same operating system as you.

Defining Pseudocode

Pseudocode is a simple way of writing programming code in English. Pseudocode is not actual programming language. It uses short phrases to write code for programs before you actually create it in a specific language. Once you know what the program is about and how it will function, then you can use pseudocode to create statements to achieve the required results for your program.

Understanding Pseudocode

Pseudocode makes creating programs easier. Programs can be complex and long; preparation is the key. For years, flowcharts were used to map out programs before writing one line of code in a language. However, they were difficult to modify and with the advancement of programming languages, it was difficult to display all parts of a program with a flowchart. It is challenging to find a mistake without understanding the complete flow of a program. That is where pseudocode becomes more appealing.

Examples of Pseudocode

Let's review an example of pseudocode to create a program to add 2 numbers together and then display the result.
Start Program
Enter two numbers, A, B
Add the numbers together
Print Sum
End Program
Compare that pseudocode to an example of a flowchart to add two numbers
Now, let's look at a few more simple examples of pseudocode. Here is a pseudocode to compute the area of a rectangle:
Get the length, l, and width, w
Compute the area = l*w
Display the area
Now, let's look at an example of pseudocode to compute the perimeter of a rectangle:
Enter length, l
Enter width, w
Compute Perimeter = 2*l + 2*w
Display Perimeter of a rectangle
Remember, writing basic pseudocode is not like writing an actual coding language. It cannot be compiled or run like a regular program. Pseudocode can be written how you want. But some companies use specific pseudocode syntax to keep everyone in the company on the same page. Syntax is a set of rules on how to use and organize statements in a programming language. By adhering to specific syntax, everyone in the company can read and understand the flow of a program. This becomes cost effective and there is less time spent finding and correcting errors.


Notes:- The main focus of the segment was to intiate a learning environment to prepare for the coding part that was coming onwards. It mostly focused on the logic building part that someone needs to handle any problem and resolve it.