Program
A computer is a device that follows the instructions given to it. A well-defined set of instructions given to the computer is called a computer program. A computer program is written in a programming language. A person who develops a program is called a programmer.
Programming Language
A set of words and symbols used to write programs is called programming language. The programming languages are used to write computer programs. A programming language is a means of communication between user and computer.
Types of Programming Languages
There are two types of computer programming languages:
- Low-Level Languages
- High-Level Languages
1. Low-Level Languages
Low-level languages are near to computer hardware and far from human languages.
The low-level languages are divided into the following two main categories:
- Machine Language
- Assembly Language
a) Machine Language
A type of language in which instructions are written in binary form is called machine language. It is the only language that is directly understood by the computer. It is the native language of the computer.
A program written in machine language can be executed very fast by computer. The computer does not need any translator to understand this language. The programs written in machine language are machine-dependent. Every computer has its own machine language.
Machine language is difficult to understand and learn. The process of writing and modifying the program in machine language takes a lot of time.
b) Assembly Language
Assembly language is a low-level language. It is one step higher than machine language. In assembly language, machine instructions are replaced with English-like words known as mnemonics. It is pronounced as Ne-Monics.
2. High-Level Language
A type of language that is close to human languages is called high-level language. The instructions in these languages are similar to the English language such as input and print etc. These languages are easy to understand.
A set of rules for writing programs in a high-level language is known as syntax. Each language has its own syntax. The instructions must be written according to the syntax of the language. Any error in the program is identified by the language translator. A program cannot be converted into machine language if it contains any syntax error.
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