Programming Languages

A programming language is a set of codes and rules that enable the computer to operate in the desired way.

There are a variety of ways to classify computer languages, one of them is by  the level of language. There are low level and high level languages. Low level languages work at the most basic level of the CPU. Low level languages rely heavily on binary and hexadecimal numbers while high level languages are more like human language and use words instead of numbers.

Low Level Languages: There are two low level languages machine code and assembly code.

Machine Code: This is the same as machine language. This is the computer's native language and is comprised of binary code (1s and 0s).

It is very difficult to program in machine code. The computer needs to be told how to do everything. Adding 1+1 requires lines of code. The numbers need to stored in the registry (primary memory - memory inside the CPU). The CPU needs to be told exactly which address. The numbers are then put into the ALU. Again the CPU needs to be told what address. The numbers are then put into the accumulator. The CPU needs to know exactly what address. The answer needs to be displayed. The computer needs to be told which device and how. Machine code is very powerful but very time consuming.

 

Assembly Code: This is the same as Assembly language. Assembly language is a little easier to follow. There is a little bit of text (not much) but instead of using binary Assembly code uses Hexadecimal. Most of the same restrictions apply as with machine code. Assembly code is a little easier to follow for humans because hexadecimal numbers are not as long and difficult to read as binary numbers.

 

High Level Languages: use text based commands which are far easier to read. One line of a high level language would require many lines of code in a low level language. There are huge numbers of high Level languages. Close to a couple of hundred and possibly far more. The number of languages is rising as various people create new languages to solve specific problems. High level languages include basic, Visual Basic, COBOL, FORTRAN, C, C#, Pascal and APL

Visual Basic: Is a language that is commonly taught in schools. Visual basic is powerful and can create a windows type interface for the program. Many professional programmers do not use Visual basic but prefer C++ or C#. The C family of programs is very powerful and gives the programmer more control over the computer by integrating machine code if required by the programmer. The language called BASIC was a text based version of visual basic but not nearly as powerful. BASIC was first created as a teaching language by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz in 1964.

Pascal: was named after an early mathematician, Blaise Pascal, who created the first mechanical calculator. Pascal was developed in the 1970s by Niklaus Wirth in an effort to teach structured programming.

COBOL: is an acronym for COmmon Business Oriented Language and was developed between 1959 and 1961. Some systems still use COBOL. It is not very common but there is still companies who require programmers to use this language. Ironically it is worth a lot of money because there are not that many programmers who are able to program in COBOL.

FORTRAN: This is also an acronym for FORmula TRANslation and is very much still used in science and engineering. Developed by Jim Backus of IBM in 1954.

C: was developed at Bell laboratories by Dennis Ritchie in 1972. It was used a lot with UNIX systems. The language has undergone several generations now and C++ and C# are now used very widely. C# was developed by Microsoft in 2001. It is known as an object oriented language. This makes the language far more adaptable than earlier versions of C