What Is a Computer Programming Language?

People interact with computers to get work accomplished quicker and easier. As with spoken languages, people have many different computer-programming languages to communicate with computers. These computer-programming languages help bridge the gap between computers and people.

Function

According to Microsoft, computers only understand "on" and "off" through millions of micro switches, called machine language. Through computer programming we are able to tell computers which switches to turn off or turn on.

How It Works

Programmers write in a programming language and run it through an interpreter called a compiler. After compiling and interpreting the code, the computer runs the program.

Types of Languages

There are many popular computer-programming languages such as: C++, Java, ASP, .Net, Python, BASIC and MySQL. Each language has benefits and disadvantages, depending on what the programmer needs to accomplish through the computer.

Considerations

Computers receive instructions from programmers. If the code contains errors then the programmer will need to correct the errors before the computer will run the program.

References

• Microsoft: How Programming Works