Types of Programming Languages

 

By CS-A B1 SY-2 

Table of Contents:

• Uses of high-level language:
• Readability:
• List of High-level Programming Language:
• C Language
• JAVA
• SQL
• HTML
• Visual Basic
• FORTRAN
• ALGOL
• PYTHON
• COBOL
• C#
• LISP
• SNOBOL
• PROLOG
• BASIC

Introduction

1. INTRODUCTION A programming language is a formal language that specifies a set of directions that is used to deliver different  kinds  of output. Programming  languages  unremarkably  contains a set of instructions   for  a Computer. It  can be  used  to  create programs that  implement particular algorithm's. There  are  programmable  machines  that  use  a limited  set  of definate directions, instead  of  the general programming  languages of  trendy  computers. Early  ones preceded the invention of the digital computers the first probably being the automatic flute player described in the 9th century by the brothers Musa in Baghdad, throughout the Islamic golden age .From the early 1800s,programs were used to direct the conduct of machines such as Jacquard  looms, music  boxes and player  pianos. However,  their  programs  could  not produce  different  behavior  in  response  to  some  input  or  condition. Thousands  of new languages has  been invented,  mainly in  the  computer field,  and much  more languages are still  being  created  every  year. programming  languages    require  computation  to  be described  in  an imperative form  (i.e  sequence  of  operations  to  perform)  while  other languages  use  other  forms  of  program  description  such  as  the declarative form  (i.e  the desired result is specified, not how to achieve it. The description of a programming language is  usually  divided  into  the  two  components ,i.e syntax and semantics. Some  languages  are defined by a identification document (for example, the C programming language is specified by an ISO Standard) while other languages (such have both,with the language defined by a standard and extensions taken from the dominant excustion being same.

HLL or A High Level Language is a Computer Programming Language that supports system development at a high level. With the modification of programs in high level languages programmers are freeing themselves from keeping in his or her mind lots of details that are are not important with respect to the problem at hand. HLL is not limited by the computers; it is designed for a specific job and it’s easier to understand. High Level Language is  less like machine language and more like human language.    It was in 1950’s that the first high-level languages were introduced.In this article we will discuss in detail HLL , its introduction and list of various HLL. This article may be useful for the aspirants preparing for any competitive exam.

A brief history on programming languages:

What was the first programming language?

It’s generally accepted that Ada Lovelace’s “Algorithm for the Analytical Engine” is the first computer language ever created. Its purpose was to help Charles Babbage with Bernoulli number computations and Ada designed it in 1883. Lovelace describes her machine as different from previous calculating machines because of its ability to be programmed to solve problems of any complexity. Her contributions to the computer programming world are important because it showed the capabilites of computed devices almost 100 years before the thought of a modern programming computer was realized.

    

What was the first widely used programming language?

Assembly Language appeared in 1949 and soon saw wide use in Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculators. The Assembly was a low-level computer language that simplified the language of machine code ie. the specific instructions necessary to operate a computer.

Uses of high-level language:

From past two eras High-level languages are preferred by the programmers because they provide a convenient generalization of the underlying system suitable for problem solving. The benefits of programming in a high-level language are:

Readability:

• • HLL supports a high level of abstraction for both instructions and data.

This functionality improves the work ability of the program to read and modify conveniently.

Data representation is hidden:

• • High-level language provides you with software data maintainability feature, which involves functions ranging from fixing bugs to generating the next version of the software.
  • It is easily maintained as per security and is flexible for future enhancement of a particular software program.

Easy error-checking: 

• • Programs written in a high-level language can be easily understood and, when good programming practices are followed, easier to maintain and check the programming code error.

Faster program development:

• • Many high-level languages provide structures like sequential, selection, iterative that facilitate program development.
• Programs written in a high-level language are relatively small and easier to write and debug.
  
  

  List of High-level Programming Language:

  There are many high-level languages presently in use, like BASIC, FORTRAN, PHP, Python, Ruby, C, C++, COBOL, Java, Pascal, Perl,  and Visual Basic. Lets study them one by one.

C Language

• Developed by Dennis Ritchie in Bell Labs.
• Files are saved in .c format
• C++ was developed from C language.
• C is not an Object-Oriented Language or OOP Language.
• It is used to code System Software, Application Software.
• C language was used to write UNIX.

JAVA

• Java was founed by James Gosling at the lab of Sun Microsystems.
• Files are saved in .JAVA format
• After Sun was taken over by Oracle, it became the owner of Java (JVM and JDK).
• Java is used to write Android applications.
• It is an OOP Language.
• Java does not depend on platforms

SQL

• SQL means”Structured Query Language”.
• Founded by IBM.
• SQL was declared a standard of (ANSI) American National Standards Institute in 1986.
• Used for database related work.

HTML

• “Hypertext Markup Language”was created by W3C and
• Files are stored in .htm an .html formats
• Websites are developed using this language.
• Itis a scripting language.

Visual Basic

• Designed and developed by Microsoft.
• It is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language.
• File extension is .vb Example (hello.vb).
• IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is Visual Studio.

FORTRAN

• Stands for “Formula Translation”.
• Designed by John Backus.
• Developed by John Backus and IBM.
• File are stored in , .f08, .f15, .f,  .fo, .f90, .f95, .f03 formats.
• Used for engineering calculation, mathematical operations.
• FORTRAN is a general-purpose imperative programming language.

ALGOL

• It stands for Algorithm Languages.
• Developed in 1958.
• There were three major specialisations of ALGOL:   ALGOL58, 60 and  68.
• It was designed especially for Scientific implementations.
• Various other High-Level Computer Languages were inspired from ALGOL.

PYTHON

• It is an interpreted, high-level programming language.
• Released in 1991.
• It supports structured, object-oriented and functional programming.
• It used block coding.

COBOL

• Stands for “Common Business Oriented Language”
• Designed by Howard Discount, Vernon Reeves,Howard Bromberg,  Jean E. Sammet, William Selden, Gertrude Tierney.
• Developed by CODASYL, ANSI, ISO.
• File extensions are .cbl, .cob, .cpy.
• Even to these days it is used in legacy applications deployed on mainframe computers.

C#

• Pronounced as See sharp.
• Designed and developed by Microsoft.
• File extension .cs.
• Windows mobile application is developed using C#.

LISP

• Stands for “List Processing”.
• Designed by McCarthy.
• Developed by Steve Russell, Timothy P. Hart, and Mike Levin.
• Used in AI (Artificial Intelligence).
• It is also suitable for input output handling and graphics.

SNOBOL

• Stands for “String Oriented Symbolic Language”.
• Developed by David J. Farber, Ralph E. Griswold, Ivan P. Polonsky and Bell Labs.
• Designed by David J. Farber, Ralph E. Griswold, and Ivan P.Polonsky.
• It is a text-oriented language.

PROLOG

• Stands for “Programming Logic”.
• Designed by Alain Colmerauer.
• File extension .pl, .pro, .P.
• This language is used for “Artificial Language”.
• Can manage to handle large number of databases.

BASIC

• Stands for “Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code”.
• Designed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz.
• Used for scientific and engineering operations.

C++

• Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup.
• Files are stored in.cc, .cpp, .cxx, .C, .c++, .h, .hh, .hpp, .hxx, .h++
• C++ is an Object-Oriented Programming Language.
• C# and Java were influenced by C++.

Computer Languages In-Demand

The list of computer languages is never-ending. From time to time the demand for computer languages also fluctuates. Some languages were in demand years ago but as technology changes the demand also changes. Here is the list of computer languages in demand all around the world:

1. Ruby
2. JavaScript
3. Python
4. PHP
5. Java
6. C#
7. Objective-C & Swift