Homework 2 – September 5

 

  1. Read Chapter 1 of your text and answer the following questions which come from the end of the chapter. Answers must be typed.  The questions should be included on your submission.  This is particularly important where a one word answer suffices.  Where a one word answer is not sufficient, please write in complete sentences.  You may work individually or as a team of two (2) people.  Your name(s) must be at the top of the page along with  “Assignment #2 –  September 6th.   The printout MUST be turned in at the start of Thursday’s class or it can not be accepted.

 

(#3) What programming language has dominated scientific computing over the past 45 years?  FORTRAN

 

(#6) In what language is UNIX written?  C

 

(#7) What is the disadvantage of having too many features in a language?

 

“The disadvantage of having two many features in a language some programmers may not be familiar with all of them.  This can lead to a misuse of some features and a disuse of others tha may be either more elegant or more efficient.”  (page 15  in 6th edition) 

OR

May affect readability.

 

#13) What does it mean for a program to be reliable?

“A program is said to be reliable if it performs to its specifications under all conditions.”  (page 17 in 6th edition)

 

(#19)  What has been the strongest influence on programming language design over the past 45 years?

Von Neumann architecture

 

(#21)  What two programming language deficiencies were discovered as a result of the research in software development in the 1970s?

Incompleteness of type checking  AND  nadequacy of control structures

 

(#22)  What are the three fundamental features of an object-oriented programming language?

data abstraction  and

inheritance  and

dynamic (run-time) method binding

 

(#23) What are the three general methods of implementing a programming language?

Compilation and pure interpretation and hybrid interpretation

 

(#25)  What language was the first to support the three fundamental features of object-oriented programming?

Smalltalk

 

(#26)  Which produces faster program execution, a compiler or a pure interpreter?

Compiler