Worksheet $3$: Computer Operations and Programming Languages

Learning Outcomes:

$1.$ Describe the fetch$-$decode$-$execute cycle.

$2.$ Describe machine, low$-$level, and high$-$level programming languages

$3.$ Describe a compiler and an interpreter

$4.$ Using Python

$5.$ Understanding Instruction Set

$1.$ Every CPU has an instruction set, which explains how instructions in a program written in a machine language are decoded and executed. Such instructions must be fetched from the memory, decoded, and executed on the CPU. This process is repeated millions or billions of times, which is why it is called fetch$-$decode$-$execute. Using the Sample Instruction Set that is provided describe two of the instructions in the Instruction Set.

$2.$ Using the Sample Instruction Set, describe the instructions $368$A$,803$C and $40$F$4$ in English

$3.$ Machine language: the only programming language that the computer can directly understand. An assembly language is a low$-$level programming language. What would you say are the differences between machine, assembly and high$-$level programming languages?

$4.$ Some high$-$level languages are compiler$-$based, and some are interpreter$-$based. A compiler translates a program written in high$-$level programming language $($source code$)$ to a program in machine language $($machine code$).$ The resultant machine code can then be executed on any CPU. An interpreter translates and executes the source code. There are thousands of such high$-$level languages in practice. List $10$ high$-$level programming languages and categorize as either compiler$-$based or interpreter$-$based.

$5.$ Use IDLE to enter the following programs and execute. Write down their outputs.

a$.$ print$($The classroom for CSC$120$ is ST$343)$

b$.$ print$($The name of my university is

Fayetteville State University$)$

c$.$ print$($This book is John$\backslash$s$)$

d$.$ print$($Welcome to the world of programming in Python$,$

It is not difficult as imagined$)$

e$.$ print$($# is used to comment out part of the program you do not want execute$)$

f$.$ print$($You can also use $\backslash \backslash \backslash ,$ triple quotes for comments of multiple lines$)$

g$.$ print$($The help command is very important for finding information

about functions and commands implemented in Python$)$