I understand that the meaning of a computer program is a set of instructions that tell a computer what to do. What I need is a clear definition for the word instruction. Are instructions detailed information about how something should be done? For example if I had to set up a new Nintendo switch game console there would detailed information on how do it. As a sentence I could say please read the instruction manual to set up the new Nintendo switch game console. When you are writing a computer program in a programming language you are actually writing the detailed information to a computer about how something should be done. For example lets say I wanted to add 2 numbers 5 and 3 and output the result of the 2 numbers. You would have to write the detailed information about how a computer should do that. Am I right yes or no. If I am not right can you please explain why.
You do write out the steps, but you ou don’t write individual machine instructions. A single machine instruction is something like “increment register EAX”, “trigger interrupt 0x21”, or “read the memory in location 0xc05a263b”. An average program contains thousands to millions of machine instructions, and except in very specialized circumstances, no one writes them out themselves. What does create instructions is a compiler, which takes your source code (like “let a = 5 + 3”) and turns it into a program containing these instructions (there’s also purely interpreted languages that don’t directly turn into instructions, but we’re not concerned with them just now).
You’ve probably noticed that while you don’t write individual machine instructions, you are giving low level steps for what you want computed. That overall computation, like “find the highest number in an array” or “compute the roots of a polynomial” is called an algorithm, and the individual steps to it are unsurprisingly called “steps”. Or yes, sometimes “instructions”, but that meaning doesn’t imply machine instructions, just the normal English usage of the term. So “instructions” by itself is just a vague word that depends on the context it’s used in.
A computer program is a set of instructions that tell a computer what to do. The defintion of instructions are specific orders of steps to do something. That means a computer program is a set of specific orders of steps that tell a computer what to do. Am I right yes or no? If I am not right can you please explain why. If I am right just say yes and please do not give any explanation.