History of programming approaches

At each critical point in the evolution of programming, a new approach was created to help the programmer handle increasingly complex programs.

The first programs were created by toggling switches on the front panel of the computer.

 This approach is suitable for only the  smallest programs

Next, assembly language was invented, which allowed longer programs to be written. 

The next advance happened in the 1950s when the first high level language (FORTRAN) was invented.

  By using high level programming language, a programmer was able to write programs that were several thousand lines long. However the method of programming was ‘anything’ goes approach. It yields unreadable and unmanageable code.

 Next invention is structured programming languages in the 1960s

 C is a structured programming language as it contains control structures, code blocks and absence of goto (or at least minimal use)

 To allow more complex programs to be written, a new approach of programming is needed. So the object oriented programming was invented.

 OOP takes the best of the ideas embodied in structured programming and combines them with powerful new concepts that allow you to organize your program more effectively.