WHAT IS COMPUTER PROGRAMMING?

Computer programming  is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging / troubleshooting, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in a programming language. The purpose of programming is to create a program that exhibits a certain desired behaviour. The process of writing source code often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.

GENERATION OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

1^st generation languages

The first generation computer language was machine language, all the machine used machine code which consisted of 0s and 1s.  Some of the drawbacks of the first generations languages were

· Programs were difficult to write and debug

· Programming process was tedious

· Programming was time confusing

· Programs were error prone

2^nd generation languages

These were developed in the early 1950s with the ability to use acronyms to speed programming and coding of programs. They had the capability to performs operation such like add, sum. 

3^rd generation languages
These were introduced between 1956 and 1963 which saw a major breakthrough in computing history with the development of high level computer languages popularly known as 3^rd(3GLS). 

^{4rd generation languages}
Was introduced at the 1970s and it is designed with a specific purpose in mind. All 4GLs are designed to reduce programming effort, the time it takes to develop software, and the cost of software development. They are not always successful in this task, sometimes resulting in inelegant and unmaintainable code.
5^{th generation languages}
Is based around solving problems using constraints given to the program, rather than using an algorithm written by a programmer. Fifth-generation languages are designed to make the computer solve a given problem without the programmer. The programmer only needs to worry about what problems need to be solved and what conditions need to be met. Fifth-generation languages are used mainly in artificial intelligence research.