How to write a program in notepad (with pictures)

This article will show you how to write a program in the standard Windows Notepad application. In short, you will need to enter the program code into Notepad line by line, and then save the file in the format of the required programming language.

Steps

Part 1 of 6: General guidelines

Step 1. Familiarize yourself with the limitations of Notepad

Formally, you can write a program in Notepad in any programming language, but to run it, the program must be saved in the correct format.

Notepad files are saved as text documents by default

Step 2. Find and launch Notepad

The easiest way to launch Notepad is to open the Start menu

, type notepad, and then click on the blue Notepad icon at the top of the Start menu.

Step 3. Select a programming language

Notepad has no restrictions in programming languages, but for the program to work correctly, you will have to use the same language throughout the document.

If you don't know any programming language, use one of the examples provided in the article

Step 4. After completing the line of code, press ↵ Enter

As with most code editors, individual lines of code should be located on separate lines of Notepad.

Step 5. Close all open curly and square brackets

If you open brackets or braces (

{

or

[

), it must be closed to complete the line of code. Failure to follow this rule will result in errors in your code.

Step 6. Consider using a dedicated code editing program

While you can certainly write entire programs in Notepad, the reality is not that simple. Since Notepad does not have syntax highlighting and automatic markup, it is poorly suited for writing large chunks of code.

Notepad ++ is a free and more convenient option for working with code

Part 2 of 6: Creating a Program

Step 1. Launch Notepad

Notepad allows you to create and save any program, regardless of the programming language used.

Step 2. Enter the program code

Make sure to use the same programming language throughout the document.

Step 3. Click on File in the upper left corner of the Notepad window to expand the drop-down menu

Step 4. Click on Save As … at the top of the drop-down menu to open the Save As window

Step 5. Specify the folder to save

Click on a folder (for example, "Desktop") on the left side of the "Save" window to select it as the location of the program.

Step 6. Click on the File Type field at the bottom of the Save window to expand the drop-down menu

Step 7. Select All Files from the drop-down menu

This will allow you to save the Notepad file as any type of program.

Step 8. Enter the name of the future program

Click on the "Filename" text box and enter a name for your program.

Step 9. Add an extension to the program name

To properly save a program, add a programming language extension dot and label immediately after the program name. Here is a list of the most common programming languages and their extensions:

• batch file (BAT) -.bat;
• Html -.htm;
• Python -.py;
• C ++ -.cpp.
• For example, to save a batch file named "watermelon", enter watermelon.bat in the "Filename" field.

Step 10. Click on Save in the lower right corner of the window to save the program in the specified format

To run a program, double-click on it (you may be asked to select a program to open the file).

Part 3 of 6: Creating a Simple Batch File

Step 1. Launch Notepad

Try to create a program that runs another program on your computer using the scripting language (BAT).

Step 2. Enter the name of the executable file to display the Command Line

Enter cmd.exe into Notepad.

Step 3. Save the program

Be sure to have a.bat extension at the end of the file name.

Step 4. Double click on the batch file

This will open a command prompt window.

Part 4 of 6: Creating a Simple HTML Program

Step 1. Launch Notepad

If you want to create a web page, HTML is a great language for the job.

Step 2. Indicate that you will be using HTML

Enter

! DOCTYPE html

and press ↵ Enter.

Step 3. Add HTML tag

Enter into Notepad

html

and press ↵ Enter.

Step 4. Define the text section of the program

Enter into Notepad

body

and press ↵ Enter. This line indicates that a section of information (in this case, text) will appear later in the document.

Step 5. Add a title to the page

Enter into Notepad

Text

and press ↵ Enter, replacing the word “Text” with the page title.

• For example, to create a page with the title "Hello!", Type in Notepad

  Hey

  .

Step 6. Add text to your page

Enter

text

and press ↵ Enter, replacing the word "text" with text data.

• For example, if you enter into Notepad

  How are you?

  , the phrase "How are you?" will appear immediately after the title.

Step 7. Close the text section

Type and press ↵ Enter.

Step 8. Indicate the end of the HTML program

Enter.

Step 9. Review your program code

It should look like this:

• Hey

• How are you?

Step 10. Save the program

Make sure to select the.htm extension when saving.

Step 11. Double click on the HTML file to open it in your default browser

You may be prompted to select a program first. The title and text of the program will appear in a new browser tab.

Part 5 of 6: Writing a Simple Python Program

Step 1. Launch Notepad

With the "print" command in Python, you can display any text you want.

Step 2. Enter the "print" command

Enter into Notepad

print ("

… Make sure there are no spaces between characters.

Step 3. Add the text you want to display

Enter Hello !.

Step 4. Close the "print" command

Enter

")

to close the command.

Step 5. Your code should look like the following

• print ("Hello!")

Step 6. Save the program

Make sure to select the.py extension when saving. Now the program can be opened in any Python editor.

Part 6 of 6: Writing a Simple C ++ Program

Step 1. Launch Notepad

In this example, we'll walk through creating a simple C ++ program that, when run, displays the phrase “Hello World!” On the screen.

Step 2. Add the name of the program

Enter followed by the name of the program (for example, "My first program"). Any text on a line that comes after two forward slashes will be displayed as normal text (not part of the program).

• For example, to designate your program as "Program 1", enter in Notepad:
  // Program 1
  .

Step 3. Enter the preprocessor directive

Enter

# include

and press ↵ Enter. This command tells C ++ to run the following lines of code as a program.

Step 4. Declare the program function

Enter

int main ()

and press ↵ Enter.

Step 5. Add an open parenthesis

Enter into Notepad

{

and press ↵ Enter. The main program code will be enclosed between this open parenthesis and its closing pair.

Step 6. Enter the executable code of the program

Enter

std:: cout << "Hello World!";

and press ↵ Enter.

Step 7. Add a closing parenthesis

Enter

}

to terminate the executing code of the program.

Step 8. Review your program

It should look like this:

• //The name of the program

• #include

• int main ()

• {

• std:: cout << "Hello World!";

• }

9

Save the program.

Don't forget to include the.cpp extension. The saved program can be run in any C ++ compiler.

Advice

• C ++ and HTML are two of the most commonly used programming languages.
• Most programs can be written in almost any programming language, although some languages are better suited for certain tasks (for example, HTML is ideal for creating web pages).

Warnings

Always check your code before you save it. Saving a faulty program can lead to problems with the standard compiler