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The Source Code

This document provides an overview of programming languages, including their history and key concepts. It discusses how programming languages allow humans to communicate instructions to machines, how they contain abstractions for defining and manipulating data structures, and how their expressive power is classified by the computations they are capable of expressing. The document also discusses differences between programming languages and markup languages.

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Zez Samuel
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653 views3 pages

The Source Code

This document provides an overview of programming languages, including their history and key concepts. It discusses how programming languages allow humans to communicate instructions to machines, how they contain abstractions for defining and manipulating data structures, and how their expressive power is classified by the computations they are capable of expressing. The document also discusses differences between programming languages and markup languages.

Uploaded by

Zez Samuel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The source code for a simple computer program written in the C programming language.

The gray lines


are comments that help explain the program to humans in a natural language. When compiled and run,
it will give the output "Hello, world!".

Most programming languages consist of instructions for computers. There are programmable machines
that use a set of specific instructions, rather than general programming languages. Since the early 1800s,
programs have been used to direct the behavior of machines such as Jacquard looms, music
boxes and player pianos.[1] The programs for these machines (such as a player piano's scrolls) did not
produce different behavior in response to different inputs or conditions.

Thousands of different programming languages have been created, and more are being created every
year. Many programming languages are written in an imperative form (i.e., as a sequence of operations
to perform) while other languages use the declarative form (i.e. the desired result is specified, not how
to achieve it).

The description of a programming language is usually split into the two components of syntax (form)
and semantics (meaning). Some languages are defined by a specification document (for example,
the C programming language is specified by an ISO Standard) while other languages (such as Perl) have a
dominant implementation that is treated as a reference. Some languages have both, with the basic
language defined by a standard and extensions taken from the dominant implementation being
common.

Programming language theory is a subfield of computer science that deals with the design,
implementation, analysis, characterization, and classification of programming languages.

DefinitionsEdit

A programming language is a notation for writing programs, which are specifications of a computation
or algorithm.[2] Some authors restrict the term "programming language" to those languages that can
express all possible algorithms.[2][3] Traits often considered important for what constitutes a
programming language include:
Function and targetA computer programming language is a language used to write computer programs,
which involves a computer performing some kind of computation[4] or algorithm and possibly control
external devices such as printers, disk drives, robots,[5] and so on. For example, PostScript programs are
frequently created by another program to control a computer printer or display. More generally, a
programming language may describe computation on some, possibly abstract, machine. It is generally
accepted that a complete specification for a programming language includes a description, possibly
idealized, of a machine or processor for that language.[6] In most practical contexts, a programming
language involves a computer; consequently, programming languages are usually defined and studied
this way.[7] Programming languages differ from natural languages in that natural languages are only
used for interaction between people, while programming languages also allow humans to communicate
instructions to machines.AbstractionsProgramming languages usually contain abstractions for defining
and manipulating data structures or controlling the flow of execution. The practical necessity that a
programming language support adequate abstractions is expressed by the abstraction principle.[8] This
principle is sometimes formulated as a recommendation to the programmer to make proper use of such
abstractions.[9]Expressive powerThe theory of computation classifies languages by the computations
they are capable of expressing. All Turing-complete languages can implement the same set
of algorithms. ANSI/ISO SQL-92 and Charity are examples of languages that are not Turing complete, yet
are often called programming languages.[10][11]

Markup languages like XML, HTML, or troff, which define structured data, are not usually considered
programming languages.[12][13][14] Programming languages may, however, share the syntax with
markup languages if a computational semantics is defined. XSLT, for example, is a Turing
complete language entirely using XML syntax.[15][16][17] Moreover, LaTeX, which is mostly used for
structuring documents, also contains a Turing complete subset.[18][19]

The term computer language is sometimes used interchangeably with programming


language.[20] However, the usage of both terms varies among authors, including the exact scope of
each. One usage describes programming languages as a subset of computer languages.[21] Similarly,
languages used in computing that have a different goal than expressing computer programs are
generically designated computer languages. For instance, markup languages are sometimes referred to
as computer languages to emphasize that they are not meant to be used for programming.[22]

Another usage regards programming languages as theoretical constructs for programming abstract
machines, and computer languages as the subset thereof that runs on physical computers, which have
finite hardware resources.[23] John C. Reynolds emphasizes that formal specification languages are just
as much programming languages as are the languages intended for execution. He also argues that
textual and even graphical input formats that affect the behavior of a computer are programming
languages, despite the fact they are commonly not Turing-complete, and remarks that ignorance of
programming language concepts is the reason for many flaws in input formats.[24]

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