CushionTheBlow (구 BluemoonSoft)

A first-generation programming language is a machine-level programming language.

Originally, no translator was used to compile or assemble the first-generation language. The first-generation programming instructions were entered through the front panel switches of the computer system.

The main benefit of programming in a first-generation programming language is that the code a user writes can run very fast and efficiently, since it is directly executed by the CPU. However, machine language is somewhat more difficult to learn than higher generational programming languages, and it is far more difficult to edit if errors occur. In addition, if instructions need to be added into memory at some location, then all the instructions after the insertion point need to be moved down to make room in memory to accommodate the new instructions. Doing so on a front panel with switches can be very difficult. Furthermore, portability is significantly reduced - in order to transfer code to a different computer it needs to be completely rewritten since the machine language for one computer could be significantly different from another computer. Architectural considerations make portability difficult too. For example, the number of registers on one CPU architecture could differ from those of another.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-generation_programming_language

Second-generation programming language is a generational way to categorize assembly languages.

- The term was coined to provide a distinction from higher level third-generation programming languages (3GL) such as COBOL and earlier machine code languages.
- The code can be read and written by a programmer. To run on a computer it must be converted into a machine readable form, a process called assembly.
- The language is specific to a particular processor family and environment. Second-generation languages are sometimes used in kernels and device drivers (though C is generally employed for this in modern kernels), but more often find use in extremely intensive processing such as games, video editing, graphic manipulation/rendering.
- One method for creating such code is by allowing a compiler to generate a machine-optimized assembly language version of a particular function. This code is then hand-tuned, gaining both the brute-force insight of the machine optimizing algorithm and the intuitive abilities of the human optimizer.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-generation_programming_language

A third-generation language (3GL) is a programming language designed to be easier for a human to understand, including things like named variables, abstract data types, and algebraic expression syntax. Another crucial difference compared to second-generation programming languages was abstraction away from the underlying processor. A fragment might be:

let b = c + 2 * d

First introduced in the late 1950s, Fortran, ALGOL and COBOL are early examples of this sort of language. Most "modern" languages (BASIC, C, C++, Delphi, and Java) are also third-generation languages. Most 3GLs support structured programming.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-generation_programming_language

A fourth-generation programming language (1970s-1990) (abbreviated 4GL) is a programming language or programming environment designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as the development of commercial business software. In the evolution of computing, the 4GL followed the 3GL in an upward trend toward higher abstraction and statement power. The 4GL was followed by efforts to define and use a 5GL.

The natural-language, block-structured mode of the third-generation programming languages improved the process of software development. However, 3GL development methods can be slow and error-prone. It became clear that some applications could be developed more rapidly by adding a higher-level programming language and methodology which would generate the equivalent of very complicated 3GL instructions with fewer errors. In some senses, software engineering arose to handle 3GL development. 4GL and 5GL projects are more oriented toward problem solving and systems engineering.

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. However, given the right problem, the use of an appropriate 4GL can be spectacularly successful as was seen with MARK-IV and MAPPER (see History Section, Santa Fe real-time tracking of their freight cars - the productivity gains were estimated to be 8 times over COBOL). The usability improvements obtained by some 4GLs (and their environment) allowed better exploration for heuristic solutions than did the 3GL.

A quantitative definition of 4GL has been set by Capers Jones, as part of his work on function point analysis. Jones defines the various generations of programming languages in terms of developer productivity, measured in function points per staff-month. A 4GL is defined as a language that supports 12 - 20 FP/SM. This correlates with about 16 - 27 lines of code per function point implemented in a 4GL.

Fourth-generation languages have often been compared to domain-specific programming languages (DSLs). Some researchers state that 4GLs are a sub-set of DSLs. Given the persistence of assembly language even now in advanced development environments (MS Studio), one expects that a system ought to be a mixture of all the generations, with only very limited use of the first.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4GL

Structured Analysis and Design Technique ? SADT is a Software Engineering technique for describing systems as a hierarchy of functions.

Techniques
SADT uses two types of diagrams: activity models and data models. It uses arrows to build these diagrams.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadt

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer devices (including telephones and personal digital assistants) close to one person. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters. PANs can be used for communication among the personal devices themselves (intrapersonal communication), or for connecting to a higher level network and the Internet (an uplink).

Personal area networks may be wired with computer buses such as USB and FireWire. A wireless personal area network (WPAN) can also be made possible with network technologies such as IrDA, Bluetooth, UWB, and ZigBee.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_area_network

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a set of extensions to the Windows Driver Model that provides an operating system interface through which instrumented components provide information and notification. WMI is Microsoft's implementation of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) and Common Information Model (CIM) standards from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF).

WMI allows scripting languages like VBScript or Windows PowerShell to manage Microsoft Windows personal computers and servers, both locally and remotely. WMI is preinstalled in Windows 2000 and newer OSs (including Windows Me). It is available as a download for Windows 95 and Windows 98.

Microsoft also provides a command line interface to WMI called Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC).

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Management_Instrumentation

1G (or 1-G) is short for first-generation wireless telephone technology, cellphones. These are the analog cellphone standards that were introduced in the 1980s and continued until being replaced by 2G digital cellphones. The main difference between two succeeding mobile telephone systems, 1G and 2G, is that the radio signals that 1G networks use are analog, while 2G networks are digital.

Although both systems use digital signaling to connect the radio towers (which listen to the handsets) to the rest of the telephone system, the voice itself during a call is encoded to digital signals in 2G whereas 1G is only modulated to higher frequency, typically 150MHz and up.

One such standard is NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), used in Nordic countries, Switzerland, Netherlands, Eastern Europe and Russia. Others include AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) used in the United States and Australia, TACS (Total Access Communications System) in the United Kingdom, C-450 in West Germany, Portugal and South Africa, Radiocom 2000 in France, and RTMI in Italy. In Japan there were multiple systems. Three standards, TZ-801, TZ-802, and TZ-803 were developed by NTT, while a competing system operated by DDI used the JTACS (Japan Total Access Communications System) standard.

Antecedent to 1G technology is the mobile radio telephone, or 0G.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1G