Programming language - Revision history

Jnc: /* External links */ +Computer Languages History

2025-07-07T14:00:25Z

‎External links: +Computer Languages History

Jnc: /* External links */ +The Top Programming Languages 2019

2025-05-15T04:51:00Z

‎External links: +The Top Programming Languages 2019

Jnc: /* See also */ +LISP

2023-06-20T16:40:33Z

‎See also: +LISP

Jnc: /* See also */ +1

2018-12-16T21:02:46Z

‎See also: +1

Jnc: +cats

2018-12-16T20:43:26Z

+cats

Jnc: Add list of langs

2018-04-01T14:16:55Z

Add list of langs

Jnc: /* Compilers and interpreters */ link

2017-11-06T16:28:33Z

‎Compilers and interpreters: link

Jnc: Typo, avoid redir

2017-09-09T20:19:28Z

Typo, avoid redir

Jnc: A start...

2017-09-04T00:48:22Z

A start...

New page

A '''programming language''' is a human-readable means of giving a computer directions on what computations to perform.

The earliest programming languages were [[assembly language]]s, which were simply human-readble forms of the machine's basic [[object code]]. Rather than being in [[binary]] (expressed in whatever base), they instead uses mnemonics to indicate the instructions.

It soon became apparently that it was desirable to be able to allow people to give these directions in a form which was closer to the high-level tasks the humans were trying to accomplish. For example, since an important use for early computers was to perform mathematical computations, [[FORTRAN]] (one of the earliest computer languagez]] allowed directions to be given in equations of a form familiar to engineers, etc.

The development of programming languages has been a never-ending process since then, as experience allows better languages, ones with capabilties more suited to the tasks to be accomplished, to be developed.

==Compilers and interpreters==

Programming languages are supported in two general ways:

* [[compiler]]s translate the high-level language statements into a sequence of machine instructions which will perform the specified actions;

* [[interpreter]]s read the [[source]] and perform the actions indicated therein directly.

It is quite common for a language to have both an interpreter and a compiler, since each has advantages and disadvantages. A program which has been compiled generally runs faster, but interpreters usually provide superior debugging tools.

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 ==External links==
 * [https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-top-programming-languages-2019 The Top Programming Languages 2019] - interesting survey
 [[Category: Software Basics]]

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 * [[FORTRAN]]
 * [[ALGOL]]
 * [[BCPL]]
 * [[C programming language|C]]
 * [[LISP]]
 * [[:Category: Languages]]
 [[Category: Software Basics]]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ==See also==
 * [[FORTRAN]]
 * [[ALGOL]]
 * [[BCPL]]
 * [[C programming language|C]]
 * [[:Category: Languages]]
 [[Category: Software Basics]]

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 * [[BCPL]]
 * [[C programming language|C]]
 [[Category: Software Basics]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:43, 16 December 2018
Line 26:		Line 26:
	* [[BCPL]]		* [[BCPL]]
	* [[C programming language\|C]]		* [[C programming language\|C]]
		+
		+	[[Category: Software Basics]]
		+	[[Category: Languages]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:16, 1 April 2018
Line 18:		Line 18:

	It is quite common for a language to have both an interpreter and a compiler, since each has advantages and disadvantages. A program which has been compiled generally runs faster, but interpreters usually provide superior debugging tools.		It is quite common for a language to have both an interpreter and a compiler, since each has advantages and disadvantages. A program which has been compiled generally runs faster, but interpreters usually provide superior debugging tools.
		+
		+	==See also==
		+
		+	* [[COBOL]]
		+	* [[FORTRAN]]
		+	* [[ALGOL]]
		+	* [[BCPL]]
		+	* [[C programming language\|C]]

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 Programming languages are supported in two general ways:
-* [[compiler]]s translate the high-level language statements into a sequence of machine instructions which will perform the specified actions;
+* [[compiler]]s translate the high-level language statements into a sequence of machine [[instruction]]s which will perform the specified actions;
 * [[interpreter]]s read the [[source code]] and perform the actions indicated therein directly.
 It is quite common for a language to have both an interpreter and a compiler, since each has advantages and disadvantages. A program which has been compiled generally runs faster, but interpreters usually provide superior debugging tools.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 The earliest programming languages were [[assembly language]]s, which were simply human-readble forms of the machine's basic [[object code]]. Rather than being in [[binary]] (expressed in whatever base), they instead uses mnemonics to indicate the instructions.
-It soon became apparently that it was desirable to be able to allow people to give these directions in a form which was closer to the high-level tasks the humans were trying to accomplish. For example, since an important use for early computers was to perform mathematical computations, [[FORTRAN]] (one of the earliest computer languagez]] allowed directions to be given in equations of a form familiar to engineers, etc.
+It soon became apparently that it was desirable to be able to allow people to give these directions in a form which was closer to the high-level tasks the humans were trying to accomplish.
 The development of programming languages has been a never-ending process since then, as experience allows better languages, ones with capabilties more suited to the tasks to be accomplished, to be developed.
@@ Line 13: / Line 15: @@
 * [[compiler]]s translate the high-level language statements into a sequence of machine instructions which will perform the specified actions;
-* [[interpreter]]s read the [[source]] and perform the actions indicated therein directly.
+* [[interpreter]]s read the [[source code]] and perform the actions indicated therein directly.
 It is quite common for a language to have both an interpreter and a compiler, since each has advantages and disadvantages. A program which has been compiled generally runs faster, but interpreters usually provide superior debugging tools.