Computer Program

Edit this Page

A computer program is a set of instructions provided to and executed by a computer. Computer programs are written in a programming-language by a computer programmer.

Most computer programs are intended to transform data from an unused form to a useful form.

Computer programs follow a common pattern:

• The program is given input data
• It transforms data with algorithm(s)
• It provides the results as output

Graphical programs follow this pattern within an event loop. They take touch, keyboard or mouse events as input and draw on the screen for output.

Web programs follow this pattern within the request/response cycle. They take an http request as input and provide an http response as output.