Computer language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up computer language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (February 2008)

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(February 2008)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

The term computer language includes a large variety of languages used to communicate with computers. It is broader than the more commonly-used term programming language. Programming languages are a subset of computer languages. For example, HTML is a markup language and a computer language, but it is not traditionally considered a programming language. Machine code is a computer language. It can technically be used for programming, and has been (e.g. the original bootstrapper for Altair BASIC), though most would not consider it a programming language.

1 Characteristics of Computer Language
2 Types of Computer Language
3 History of computing languages
4 References
5 Sources
6 See Also

[edit] Characteristics of Computer Language

Computer languages can be divided into two groups: high-level languages and low-level languages. High-level languages are designed to be easier to use, more abstract, and more portable than low-level languages. Syntactically correct programs in some languages are then compiled to low-level language and executed by the computer. Most modern software is written in a high-level language, compiled into object code, and then translated into machine instructions.

Computer languages could also be grouped based on other criteria. Another distinction could be made between human-readable and non-human-readable languages. Human-readable languages are designed to be used directly by humans to communicate with the computer. Non-human-readable languages, though they can often be partially understandable, are designed to be more compact and easily processed, sacrificing readability to meet these ends.

[edit] Types of Computer Language

Further information: Programming language

Programming languages are the primary means by which developers of computing systems instruct a machine to organize or manipulate information or control physical devices. Most software is written using one or more programming languages. Common examples include C++, Java, BASIC, and assembly languages, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. Programming languages can be grouped by "generation", see also Fourth-generation programming language ("4GL")

Further information: Scripting language

Scripting languages are a type of programming language designed to control other software or to coordinate the actions of multiple software applications. They are usually distinguished from "full" programming languages in that they are dependent on another application, are more accessible to users, include fewer features, and are not compiled but run via an interpreter. In practice, some languages originally conceived for scripting (PHP) have grown to be become "full" programming languages and some "full" programming languages have been adapted for embedding into applications (Java). Common examples include Perl and javaScript. (scripting language list)

Further information: Visual programming language

Most programming language are based on a programmer writing source code to instruct the computer, but Visual programming languages are designed to have the programmer manipulate visual representations of program elements.

All instructions to a computer are ultimately expressed in machine code, a non human-readable binary computer language which corresponds to the available instructions for a microprocessor. Source code is converted to machine code by a compiler, sometimes on the fly). Some programming languages use an intermediate computer language called bytecode which is designed to make software more portable across different computer architectures. Such systems use a virtual machine to convert bytecode to machine code when a program is run. Java is a well-known example.