How Do You Programmatically Allocate IPs and VLANs?

I am looking for an expert in IPs and VLAN to give me some insight into these very important networking technologies. I would like the expert to explain what programmatically allocating IPs and VLAN means. Does this mean that you can write a computer program in such a manner that it will allocate IPs and VLAN when the request is made or it has an entirely different connotation?
