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Chapter 3 Program Development
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The required elements for running a program are:

  • Data space (for input, output, and computations)

  • Instructions (machine readable code and constants)

  • System routines (for example, input and output)

Program development is a term for taking a program design, on paper, to the point where it is machine readable and functions reliably.

Program components are data and code. When a program is running, instructions and data are fetched from main memory to the CPU; data may be stored back into main memory for later use. Code and data must be in main memory when required for execution. CPU registers keep track of the location of such information as:

  • Next instruction to execute

  • Program status

  • Data calculations

The major steps for developing a program are:

  1. Writing: design the program and enter the source code in a text file.

  2. Compiling: translate source code to machine readable instructions.

  3. Linking: bind all resources necessary for the program's code to run the program.

  4. Run: execute the program.

These steps are described in detail in the subsections below. Figure 3-1 “MPE/iX Program Development” shows a summary of these steps.

Figure 3-1 MPE/iX Program Development

[MPE/iX Program Development]


FCOPY/XL
  		 


Writing a Program