RPG II Programming language

RPG IIis a business-oriented language. The name stands for report program generator. RPG is considerably different from other programming languages. RPG is, in effect, a large prewrit­ten program. The programmer simply indicates the options within the master program that are to be used and, through a set of indicators, when they are to be used.

Английский язык. Основы компьютерной грамотности 154

RPG was originally referred to as a "quick-and-dirty" pro­gramming language. That is, it is quick for the programmer to write and relatively inefficient in its use of main storage and processing speed. The latest version of RPG, called RPG II, greatly improved the language and gave it additional capabili­ties. RPG has an advantage over COBOL in that it requires less training for a programmer to become proficient in it. For this reason, RPG is commonly used on many smaller computers and in small business.

2. BASIC

BASIC is the acronym for beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code. It was developed in Dartmouth College as an easy-to-learn programming language for students and inexpe­rienced programmers. Its key design goal is simplicity. BASIC has become a very popular language in systems where many users share the use of a computer through terminals and it has become a universal language for personal computers.

The language BASIC is mathematically oriented, that is, its typical use is to solve problems of a mathematical nature. Be­cause BASIC programs are usually executed from a terminal or microcomputer where input is entered through a keyboard and printed output is relatively slow, problems of a business nature requiring large volumes of input-output data are usually not practical.

3. PASCAL

PASCAL was invented in 1970 by Professor Niklaus Wirth of Zurich, Switzerland. It was named after the mathematician Blaise Pascal, who invented one of the earliest practical calcu­lators. PASCAL is a mathematically oriented programming lan­guage and, as such, is most commonly used in mathematics, engineering, and computer science departments of colleges and universities. This language is somewhat unusual in that it was designed to be a structured language. This means that the pro­gram must be written in logical modules which are in turn called by a main controlling module. Much of PASCAL'S popularity is due to work done at the University of California at San Di­ego, where PASCAL has been implemented on several differ­ent computers including microcomputers.

155 Unit 11. Computer Programming