Watch the video and put
the words into the gaps in the text
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So what exactly
is (1)___? Well, you may have heard a phrase like this
before: “A computer program is a (2)____ of
(3)____”. Here is the problem. This sounds like one of those phrases that might be
technically true and is kind of useless, like
the human brain is 80% water. Because you hear this phrase but then you see a complex program like Photoshop or Flash
or something playing (4)_____ video or a 3D
game and you think, “Yeah but that can't just be a set of instructions”. But that's exactly what these are, all
of them.
Every computer program is a
series of instructions, a (5)____ of separate small commands, one after the
other. Now there maybe five instructions contained in
a program, maybe 5,000, maybe 5 million. Each
(6)____ is telling the computer to do something very small, but very specific and the art of programming is to take a
larger idea and break it (7)____ into these
individual steps. And the wonderful thing is
everyone can already do this. Let's imagine
that you're sitting in your house in the suburbs waiting for a visit from a friend.
Your phone rings, it's her,
and she's asking for (8)___. She tells you she's
at a nearby gas station and you know it. You pass it every day; it's on your way home. So that journey point A to point B drops into your head as
one piece, but you instantly know you can't
(9)___ the journey the way you understand it. You
have to break it down into simpler parts and you have to think about it to
break it down because it's so (10)____ to you. So you start to (11)____ this apart and “You say you are
going to need to turn right, then drive one
mile, then you will turn left on Acacia Avenue, then you'll take the second right and then it's the fourth house on the
left”. Specific, individual, simple, clear, (12)____ instructions.
Now you know that (13)____
here is vitally important. You mix these up, you
will get very different results. “Turn right,
drive 1 mile”
takes you to quite a different place from “drive 1 mile, turn right”.
But this same level of simple instructions, turn right, turn left, go straight, could take you around
the (14)___ or it could take you on a five-year
trip around the world visiting every Starbucks along the way. You'd still have instructions like turn right and left.
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set
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instructions
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high-definition
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programming
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apart
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sequence
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instruction
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communicate
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pull
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self-contained
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directions
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natural
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corner
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sequence
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You'd just need a lot more
of them. So with programming we are giving (15)___ to
the computer. It's breaking apart a more
complex idea, a more (16)___ task, into its smallest
individual instructions and then using a programming language to write those instructions. Now,
of course if you have never programmed, it's not clear right now what those
instructions might be. You
know it's probably not turn right and turn left. So what are those basic fundamental instruction you give a
computer? Well, they are often very basic. They
are things like (17)___ two numbers together,
or display a letter on the (18)___, check to see if the user just hit the (19)____, change the color of one individual (20)____.
But as with driving directions, you string
together enough computer instructions that will get you very far indeed.
So when it might seem
difficult to see how you get from (21)___ examples you see when beginning programming to complex games or applications,
well that's what you get when you have a
hundred people writing these instructions for sixty hours a week for several years, combined with the (22)___ of
the computer to process them (23)___ fast,
means that we could, if we wanted to, write the
set of instructions that could (24)____ every single individual pixel on
the screen thirty times a second.
Now think about that level
of speed and think about why your instructions better be right. Because getting them wrong is like giving (25)___
directions to your friend when her car only has
two speeds: 0 and 5000
miles an hour. You get
those directions wrong, and the next call you get is her asking why she
(26)___ your instructions to the letter, but her car
is now in the middle of a forest crashed into a
tree. Computers will do exactly what you tell
them, so the instructions you give them better
make (27)___.
In programming languages we
write these instructions by writing what are called (28)____. Statements in programming languages are kind of like
sentences in English. They use words, numbers,
and (29)____ to express one thought, one individual piece. Most programming statements are pretty short, just a few
words. Now, exactly what words, numbers, and
punctuation you use depends on the (30)____
language. Some languages want each of your
statements to end with a (31)___, like ending a
sentence in English with a period, and others don't. You just go to the next
line and start writing the next statement. Some languages are all (32)___, some languages are all
lowercase, some languages just don't (33)___.
Now, understanding the rules of each language is
understanding the syntax of a programming
language. So programming is the ability to take
this idea in your head, break it apart into its
individual pieces, and know how to write those pieces in the programming
language you are using at the time, writing your
statements in the right order, using the right
syntax. But what language? Well, sometimes you
get to pick a language and sometimes it's kind of picked for you.
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add
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screen
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directions
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spacebar
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pixel
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complex
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ability
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calculate
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basic
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mind-bogglingly
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sense
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wrong
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followed
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semicolon
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care
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punctuation
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programming
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uppercase
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statements
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1
Vocabulary focus. Sudy the words and word combinations, practise
their translation, spelling. Check your knowledge
in the test. Play vocabulary game and set your own vocabulary game record.
2
Answer the Questions
What is a computer program?
What is given in instructions? Why are they important?
What are statements and programming languages?
How can we understand the role of each language? Why
is such understanding important?
3 Mark the following statements as True or False
Every computer program is a series of instructions and
separate small commands.
Programming is giving instructions to the computer.
Computers closely follow instructions and do exactly
what you tell them.
Statements in programming are like sentences in
Russian.
Most programming statements consist of many words.
When we give directions to the computer it breaks them
up like breaking more complex idea or a more complex task into the smallest
individual instructions.
Computer program is a set of applications.
All languages want each of the statements to end with
a comma.
Understanding a programming language is understanding
its syntax.
Statements in programming languages use words,
numbers, and punctuation to express one thought in one case