Initially, computer operators had to set the program manually to run…
Punched cards
At the end of the 1800s, Herman Hollerith invented the punched card, to be automatically read by a machine.
Instructions were then CODED in the punched card.
Grace Hopper’s proposal
Later, in 1949, Grace Hopper invented the first programming language: COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language)
For example, the user would write: COMPUTE SUM = (1 + 3)DIVIDE SUM BY 2 GIVING AVERAGE
Crucial to this was the development of the compiler: a program capable of converting a sentence very much like an English phrase (with syntax and semantics) into machine instructions.
So, what’s a code?
“A program that follows a set of rules” (in order to be correctly interpreted)
To learn how to program, then, is to learn how to express yourself correctly through the code
