How to write a program in Notepad

What should a beginner programmer do if there is nothing to create the code at his fingertips? Well, or almost nothing, because the computer with the operating system installed on it, we do not take into account. You will be told that notepad (Notepad.exe) will help. Let's talk about how to write a program with the help of something else.

Now, to program in any language, it is customary to use special programming environments. Any such environment includes a handy editor in which code is written, debugging tools and the compiler, as well as some utilities. But at the dawn of the computer era, everything was not right. It is already difficult to imagine that in DOS you can write a text file without the help of Notepad. Also, without the help of Notepad, you could create a program and even make changes on the fly in the codes of the executable processes on the fly.

Then, with the advent of the latest versions of DOS and the first Windows, we began to use a notepad program. To write a program in Pascal or any other popular language of that time. Until now, there is an opinion that real programmers write code in Notepad. Well, if you know how to write a program in one or another language, Notepad will be enough, but specialized tools are still better. Work in them is more comfortable and faster.

For example, modern Notepad ++, or a notebook for programmers, is capable of highlighting commands for code in more than 50 languages. The program is very convenient to use if you need to save a file with a certain encoding. UTF-8 without BOM, for example, can be difficult to put in the usual Notepad from Microsoft. Notepad ++ is useful for writing web scripts or text in HTML, although any other text editor would cope with it .

The programming environment is good because the written code can be directly traced (run step-by-step execution) in the debugger. This allows you to quickly find errors. Well, you can not do without a compiler. Code with commands is the same text if the machine does not understand it. Unless you know how to write a program in machine codes. The compiler is needed just to translate the program from a programming language that is understandable to people, into a language that the computer can understand.

But Notepad should not be forgotten either. True, you will hardly write a serious and long program in it (it is easy to admit and it is difficult to find an error). But on the Internet now you can find many recipes, how to write a program in Notepad, and save it with the extensions of BAT and VBS. These are not exactly programs, in the language of the operating system these files are called executable. And before writing a program, you need to learn the commands for management from the Windows console and the Visual Basic language. Otherwise, you have to use ready-made recipes.

And do not believe that in Notepad you can write a full virus. The creations of modern hackers have thousands of lines, a considerable part of which is occupied by algorithms of encryption, protection and concealment of executable code. A small joke program will not pass through the filters of most antivirus programs. And if you protect it, it will turn into a big one. And then you again have to learn how to do it, and not look for ready-made recipes.

In general, it is possible to make the program "out of nothing". But if you have never tried it, you will not be able to do it quickly.