Reading Exercise #0
Due 5:00 PM, Wednesday Jan. 7, 2015
Chapters 1 (pp 5-39), and 2.1 (pp 41-48)
The purpose of reading exercises
Reading exercises serve several purposes
- They ensure that students have read the assigned material
before class. The instructor does not have the time to cover all the topics
in the reading. Instead he wishes to use class time to discuss important
issues more deeply. If students have not done the reading they cannot
participate meaningfully in the discussions, and class time is wasted.
- The reading exercises serve as a guide to what is in the reading. Thus the
student may better appreciate the reading.
- Answering the reading exercise questions forces the student to think
about the meaning of what is read.
How to complete a reading exercise
- Read through the exercise first, to get an idea of what you are supposed
to get out of the reading. If you know what you are looking for, you'll get more out of the reading.
- Then read through the text, take notes when you come to a section that might
help you answer a question.
- When you have finished the whole reading go back and fill in the answers.
How to turn in a reading exercise
To turn in an exercise, repeat each question along with your answers. You might do this
by cutting and pasting from the exercise, or by printing it out, and writing your
answers on the printout, and then scanning your result into a PDF that you
can submit via the drop box function of D2L. Submit only *.txt or *.pdf or *.html
documents to D2L. It is your responsibility that exercises are in the correct format with your
name at the top in the first line.
For example:
Reading Exercise #0 Tom Smith tom_smith@gmail.com
Content of reading exercise #0
- Why are there so many programming languages. Explain the reason
you think is most important to you when you choose a language.
- What are the two families of programming languages?
- List the languages you have had person experience with under each family.
- For what reasons do we study programing languages?
- Which of these reasons resonate with you?
- Explain the differences between compilers and interpreters.
- List the languages that you have had personl experience with under
each category. Use the same languages you listed in (3) above. If you don't know if a language you have used is
compiled or interpreted. Use the internet to look up the answer.
- What is a programming environment?
- List the phases of language processors.
- What techniques and tools do we use to handle program syntax?
- Which of these do you have person experience with?