PROGRAMING LANGUAGE

A programming language is a computer language programmers use to develop software programs, scripts, or other sets of instructions for computers to execute.

Although many languages share similarities, each has its own syntax. Once a programmer learns the languages rules, syntax, and structure, they write the source code in a text editor or IDE. Then, the programmer often compiles the code into machine language that can be understood by the computer. Scripting languages, which do not require a compiler, use an interpreter to execute the script.

Types of programming languages

Each of the different programming languages mentioned in the next section can be broken into one or more of the following types (paradigms) of languages.

• High-level (most common) / low-level
• Declarative / imperative / procedural
• General-purpose / domain-specific
• Object-oriented / concurrent
• Command / Compiled / Script language
• Answer set

High-level language

Sometimes abbreviated as HLL, a high-level language is a computer programming language that isn't limited by the computer, designed for a specific job, and is easier to understand. It is more like human language and less like machine language. However, for a computer to understand and run a program created with a high-level language, it must be compiled into machine language.

The first high-level languages were introduced in the 1950s. Today, high-level languages are in widespread use. These include BASIC, C, C++, COBOL, FORTRAN, Java, Pascal, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Visual Basic.

Low-level language

Binary

A low-level language is a programming language that provides little or no abstraction of programming concepts and is very close to writing actual machine instructions. Two examples of low-level languages are assembly and machine code.

Uses and other information

Low-level languages are useful because programs written in them can be crafted to run very fast and with a very minimal memory footprint. However, they are considered harder to utilize because they require a deeper knowledge of machine language.

Is C or C++ a low-level language?

C language

The C and C++ programming languages are considered middle-level languages. They provide a minimal amount of abstraction at the smallest possible cost to performance and efficiency. These abstractions, such as classes, lambda functions, and macros, allow programmers to use complex functionality without writing overly complex code that would be required with machine code. For this reason, C and C++ are considered lower-level languages where abstractions are necessary to keep code highly readable and maintainable, but where maximum performance is paramount.