What is a program?
If you go to an ATM machine to withdraw money from your bank account, you will come face to face with a screen which gives you instructions for you to follow. Examples of the instruction could be as follows:
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Please insert your bank card |
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Please enter your pin number |
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Please choose the service you want |
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Please enter the amount you want to withdraw |
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Please remove your card |
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Please take receipt |
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Thank you and have a nice day |
How could the ATM machine interact with you in such a way? After all, it is just a machine. Yes, you are right! The ATM machine is actually a type of computer. And this computer is run by a program.
Can you think of another example of a computer and a program which runs on the computer? As we will see in the next section, a “computer” as we usually refer to, is actually a system which is made up of a few components.