Definition of Computer Programming Languages
While humans speak languages laced with metaphor, idioms, inflections and subtext, computers require languages free from these ambiguities in order to function correctly. Dozens of programming languages in use across the world allow human users to interact with computers, create programs and documents and control the way a computer operates.
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Use
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At a basic level, programming languages translate commands into computer operations. Every piece of computer software and hardware requires the use of programming languages, and programming languages are used to build everything from operating system to web browsers to your mobile phone interface.
Constructed Language
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Programming languages were created for specific purposes in their entirety. Though they share some similarities with human languages, such as syntax, they differ in fundamental respects. Programming languages are finite, and each piece of a programming language contains unambiguous meaning. Programming languages also remain unchanging; though new languages may branch off from older creations.
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Examples
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Software companies and programmers utilize many programming languages in popular hardware and software, but some seem more ubiquitous use than others. General purpose languages such as C and C++ are used to build applications and pieces of system software. Other popular language options include Java, Python and Perl.
History
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Though difficult to pinpoint exactly, the first programming languages emerged with punch-card computers in the 1940s as assembly language programs for specific hardware configurations. In the following decades, new languages such as FORTRAN and COBOL surfaced, and most modern languages follow in the path of at least one of these early languages. As programming languages aged, they became more universal, and more recently languages have moved toward increased mobility and open-source distribution.
Abstraction
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Different levels of abstraction form the primary fundamental variance between different programming languages. A programming language with little abstraction requires inputs from a coder that more closely control the specific hardware functions of a computer. Languages with higher levels of abstraction allow execution of these basic functions with fewer lines of code, using more abstract commands. While a higher level of abstraction allows for simpler programming, lower levels give programmers more immediate control over a computer system.
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References
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