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Computer programming text book

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summary

    My goal is to provide a free downloadable text that can be used in college and high school computer programming classes. The intent of this free downloadable college text book is to attempt to directly help poor and middle class students with the high cost of college text books by providing a high quality free alternative that can be used in the classroom for a subject that most college students are required to take.

    This free downloadable book is based on and includes materials from OSdata.com . Materials from OSdata.com have already been used in more than 300 colleges and universities around the world and have been quoted in studies and policy decisions by the U.S. Navy and the government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

    This is still a work in progress. Feedback and constructive criticism appreciated (especially feedback from professors who might want to use the finished book).

    While this book is still being written, professors are free to use specific chapters (or portions of chapters) as class handouts to supplement existing for-profit text books. This same policy will continue to apply after the book is completed, but this policy offers usefulness for many classes right now today even though the book is still incomplete.

    Poor students should not feel bad about using this book for free. You are exactly who this book is intended to help. You may optionally do volunteer work for the charitable organization of your choice (not political or religious activity — actual work for a charitable organization helping the poor, the elderly, the sick, the disabled, or the environment, etc.).

    Students have permission to download this free computer programming textbook (in whole or in part) and print out copies for personal use.

    Government schools and the instructors/professors/teachers at government schools have permission to download and print copies of this free computer programming textbook (in whole or in part) for personal use and for distribution to students in their classes. Schools/instructors/professors/teachers may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of printing, binding, and other related costs.

    The schools and educators granted permission in the paragraph above may change the order of material, add new material, delete existing material, and otherwise make changes that customize the book for their classes. Schools and educators are asked to provide copies of any new materials added and indicate whether they want to credited by name and institution or anonymously.

    Because of the interlocking nature of various aspects of computer programming, it is impossible to present a college level rigorous presentation without continual forward references.

    For this reason, basic background material will be presented in an informal manner in a first pass, then a second pass will treat the same subject matter in much more detail in a rigorous manner.

    The first pass of the material is appropriate for a high school class in computer programming and for an introductory class at the college level.

    The second pass of the material is intended for use in a series of classes on computer programming and for use in a variety of advanced programming classes. Professors will assign specific chapters appropriate to the class in the order that makes the most sense to that particular professor.

    Distributed on the honor system. If you print out this book or read substantial portions on a computer screen, please send a $10 donation to the author at: Milo, PO Box 1361, Tustin, CA, 92781, USA. Donations will help support further research and writing. You do not have to make multiple donations when you download new editions/versions of this book.

    Those who make a donation have permission to print out future versions of this book, as well as back up and replacement copies of this book, for no additional donation (although additional donations would be appreciated).

    Remember that any donations are voluntary and donations are not expected from those who are poor or otherwise might be burdened by the cost of making a donation. Corporations or rich people who want to help support the writing of this book are encouraged to make donations and will be specifically mentioned for their support.

    author: Milo, PO Box 1361, Tustin, CA, 92781, USA

free computer programming text book project If you like the idea of this project, then please donate some money. send donations to: Milo PO Box 1361 Tustin, California 92781

chapters written so far:
table of contents

• Section 1: Introduction
• table of contents
• goal of this textbook
• copyright information
• using this text book
• picking a class
• syllabus
• computer programming
• size of programs
• basics of computer hardware
• parts of a computer
• processor
• main storage
• external storage
• input/output
• input
• output
• kinds of programming
• programming languages
• direct programming
• machine and object code
• assemblers
• high level languages
• interpreters
• compilers
• linkers
• loaders
• editors
• command line interface
• development environment
• standards and variants
• history of programming languages
• Hello World
• creating a program
• listings and errors
• free form vs. columns
• whitespace
• Section 2: Advanced
• assembly languages

explanation and goal of this book

    According to the Los Angeles Times college text books average $120 each (late 2006) and the major book publishers are still jacking up the prices. According to the LA Times, many poor students are barred from higher education (even though they have financial aid or a scholarship) because they simply can’t afford the price of text books, which can be more than a thousand dollars a semester/quarter.

    The major book publishers put out new (more expensive) editions of text books every three years. It just happens to be that three years is the amount of time for a text book to saturate the used text book market and cut into sales of new books. The book publishers claim that this is mere coincidence with the timing of their new editions and that they only publish new editions when they need to make improvements on the existing text. it is mere coincidence that these necessary improvements happen to exactly match the sales cycle for every text book they publish!

    It will take me time to get a computer programming text book written, but I am a skilled writer, as proven by this highly popular website OSdata.com, a website on computer operating systems that is used by more than 300 universities and colleges around the world and that has been cited by the U.S. Navy in the paperwork justifying switching to Linux for all mission critical computers and by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in paperwork justifying their switch to Linux.

    I do actively encourage students, teachers, and professional programmers to provide useful feedback and criticism to help make this project useful as a free downloadable college text book.

    Donations of money to help support the writing and hosting of this project are greatly appreciated. Milo, PO Box 1361, Tustin, CA, 92781, USA.

copyrights

    This free downloadable computer programming text book is Copyright © Milo except where specifically noted otherwise.

    Students have permission to download this free computer programming textbook (in whole or in part) and print out copies for personal use.

    Government schools and the instructors/professors/teachers at government schools have permission to download and print copies of this free computer programming textbook (in whole or in part) for personal use and for distribution to students in their classes. Schools/instructors/professors/teachers may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of printing, binding, and other related costs.

    The schools and educators granted permission in the paragraph above may change the order of material, add new material, delete existing material, and otherwise make changes that customize the book for their classes. Schools and educators are asked to provide copies of any new materials added and indicate whether they want to credited by name and institution or anonymously.

    Others wishing to print this free text book should contact the author with their request.

    Those who can afford to pay for this computer programming text book, should send cash donations to Milo, PO Box 1361, Tustin, California, USA, 92781.

using this text book

    This book is divided into two major sections.

    This organization reflects the way computer programming is normally taught: an overview class that gives a foundation in basic concepts, followed by a series of more advanced classes that go back over the same material in much more detail.

    The first section provides an introduction and overview to computer programming.

    This first section is further divided into general discussions and language specific discussions. It is generally unwise for beginners to attempt to learn more than one programming language at a time. Each programming language is color coded. The choice of colors is completely arbitrary and has nno meaning.

    The second section provides a detailed examination and reference for advanced studies in computer programming and computer science.

    Do not expect for this book to be assigned in the same order as it is written. There are many different ways to teach computer programming, so your particular professor or instructor is likely to change the order of presentation of the material, probably also deleting entire chapters and possibly inntroducing additional outside materials.

    In particular, there is more material in the introductory section than can reasonably be covered in a single class. Your professor will decide which materials should be emphasized and which materials should be skipped. Some programming languages naturally emphasize some materials and don’t include others.

    Most schools start students on programming as quickly as possible. Don’t be surprised if your professor skips over some or all of the early chapters and tells you that some or all is material that you should already know.

    Once the introductory material has been covered, the advanced material can literally be taught in almost any order.

    Important Note: For the sake of clarity, much of the material in the first section is watered down and simplified. Most exceptions (including some important ones) will be overlooked. Many details (including some important ones) will be ignored. Terminology will be used in a casual manner without formal definitions. Including all that information would just bog down the discussion and make it more difficult to understand the basic principles.