What Is a Program Statement?

Program statements are used to provide instructions to a computer program.

A computer program statement is an instruction for the computer program to perform an action. There are many different types of statements that can be given in a computer program in order to direct the actions the program performs or to control the order that the actions are carried out in.

Function

A program statement tells the computer to do something. This may be as simple as adding two numbers together or as complex as connecting to a server across the Internet.

Types

There are many types of program statements that you may find in a typical computer program. Assignment statements are used to assign a value to a program variable. Flow control statements help direct the order in which statements are performed. Iteration statements instruct the program to repeat a series of statements a specified number of times. These are just a few of the types of statements available to a programmer.

Considerations

There are many different programming languages, and each one has its own acceptable format for programming statements. A program statement that works fine in Java will not necessarily perform the same way in Visual Basic.

References

• Microsoft Developers Network: Statements (C# Programming Guide)
• Harvard University Press: Programming Statements