Computer languages : Evolution of softwares

Evolution of software

A programming language is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer or computing device to perform specific tasks. A program serves the purpose of commanding the computer. The efficiency and usefulness of a program depends not only on proper use of commands but also on the programming language it is written in. The two major type of programming languages: Low Level languages and High Level languages offer different features of programming.

Computer languages

Low Level languages:- They are machine oriented and require extensive knowledge of computer circuitry. Machine language, in which instructions are written in binary code (using 1 and 0), is the only language the computer can execute directly. Assembly language, in which instructions are written using symbolic names for machine operations (e.g. READ, ADD ,STORE etc.) and operands, makes programming less tedious than machine language programming. However, assembly program is then converted into machine language using assembler software.
High Level languages:- On the other hand, offer English like keywords, constructs for sequence, selection (decision) and iteration (looping) and use of variables and constants. Thus it is very easy to program with such languages compared to low level languages. The programs written in HLLs are converted into machine language using compiler or interpreter as a computer can work with machine language only.

A programming language should serve two related purposes:

It should proved a vehicle for the programmer to specify actions to be executed and
It should provide a set of concepts for the programmer to use when thinking about what can be done.

The first aspect ideally requires a language that is "close to the machine", so that all important aspects of a machine are handled simply and efficiently in a way that is reasonably obvious to the programmer. The second aspect ideally requires a language that is "close to the problem to be solved" so that the concepts of the solution can be expressed directly and concisely.

The low level language serve only the first aspect i.e., they are close to the machine and the high level languages serve only the second aspect i.e., they are close to the programmer. However, the languages 'C' and 'C++' serve both the aspects, hence can be called as 'middle level language'.

Converting to Machine Language

Regardless of what language you use, you eventually need to convert your program into machine language so that the computer can understand it. There are two ways to do this:

1) Compile the program.
2) Interpret the program.

The question of which language is best is one that consumes a lot of time and energy among computer professionals. Every language has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, FORTRAN is a particularly good language for processing numerical data, but it does not lend itself very well to organizing large programs. Pascal is very good for writing well-structured and readable programs, but it is not as flexible as the C programming language. C++ embodies powerful object-oriented features, but it is complex and difficult to learn but don't worry guys nothing is impossible.Stay with this site Cplusplus and learn C++ in a simple and smarter way.