What is a Programming Language? - Computer Hope

A programming language is a computer language programmers use to develop software programs, scripts, or other sets of instructions for ... SkiptoMainContent HomeDictionaryP-Definitions Programminglanguage Updated:03/13/2021byComputerHope Aprogramminglanguageisacomputerlanguageprogrammersusetodevelopsoftwareprograms,scripts,orothersetsofinstructionsforcomputerstoexecute. Althoughmanylanguagessharesimilarities,eachhasitsownsyntax.Onceaprogrammerlearnsthelanguagesrules,syntax,andstructure,theywritethesourcecodeinatexteditororIDE.Then,theprogrammeroftencompilesthecodeintomachinelanguagethatcanbeunderstoodbythecomputer.Scriptinglanguages,whichdonotrequireacompiler,useaninterpretertoexecutethescript. Typesofprogramminglanguages. Listofcomputerprogramminglanguages. Applicationandprogramdevelopment. Artificialintelligencedevelopment. Databasedevelopment. Gamedevelopment. Computerdriversorotherhardwaredevelopment. Internetandwebpagedevelopment. Scriptdevelopment. Howmanyprogramminglanguagesarethere? Whatarethetopprogramminglanguages? Relatedinformation. Typesofprogramminglanguages Eachofthedifferentprogramminglanguagesmentionedinthenextsectioncanbebrokenintooneormoreofthefollowingtypes(paradigms)oflanguages. High-level(mostcommon)/low-level Declarative/imperative/procedural General-purpose/domain-specific Object-oriented/concurrent Command/Compiled/Scriptlanguage Answerset Note Thereareotherparadigmsthatcanclassifyaprogramminglanguage.We'vetriedtolistonlythemostcommonasastartingpoint. Tip Alanguagecanalsobebrokenintooneoffivegenerationlanguages. Listofcomputerprogramminglanguages Today,therearehundredsofdifferentprogramminglanguages.Thefollowingsectioncontainsanindexofthedifferentprogrammingandscriptinglanguagescurrentlylistedonoursite.Clickinganyofthefollowinglanguagesdisplaysanexplanationandexamplesofthatlanguage. A-C D-K L-Q R-Z ActionScriptALGOLAdaAIML*AltairBASICAssemblyAutoHotkeyBabelBASICBatchfileBCPLBeanShellBrooksCC#C++CLClojureCOBOLCoffeeScriptCommonLispCPLCSS*CurlCurry DDarkBASICDartDatalogdBASEDylanEuLispElixirFF#FORTRANFoxProFranzLispGameMakerGoGWBasicHaskellHDML*HTML*InterLispkshJavaJavaScriptJCLJuliaKotlin LeLispLispLiveScriptLOGOLuaMACLISPMatlabMetroMUMPSNimObjective-COCamlPascalPerlPHPPickPureBasicPythonPrologQBasic RRacketReiaRPGRubyRustScalaSchemeScratchSGML*SimulaSmalltalkSPLSQL*StanfordLISPSwiftTclTurboPascalTrueBASICVHDLVisualBasicVisualFoxProWML*WHTML*XLISPXML*YAML*ZetaLisp Note Languagesmarkedwithanasterisk(*)inthelistabovearenottechnicallyaprogramminglanguage.Theyaremarkup,stylesheet,anddatabasemanagementlanguagesthatareincludedinthelistforthosewhomayconsiderthemasaprogramminglanguage. Thosenewtocomputerprogrammingmayfindthelistaboveoverwhelming.Figuringoutwheretostartdependsonthetypeofcomputerprogrammingyouwanttodo.Thenextsectionlistsdifferentfieldsofprogramming,andthelanguagestoconsiderforeach. Note Thereareseveralprogramminglanguageslistedabovethatmaynotbeinthefollowingcategories.Thereasonforthisisthatwehaveelectedtolistonlythemostpopularchoicestoavoidconfusion. Applicationandprogramdevelopment Applicationandprogramdevelopmentinvolvesprogramsyouworkwithonadailybasis.Forexample,theInternetbrowseryouareusingtoviewthiswebpageisconsideredaprogram.Ifyouareinterestedindevelopingaprogram,considerthefollowinglanguages: C C# C++ D Java Swift Tcl VisualBasic Artificialintelligencedevelopment Artificialintelligenceorrelatedfieldsinvolvecreatingthecharacterinteractionsincomputergames,portionsofprogramsthatmakedecisions,chatbots,andmore.Ifyou'reinterestedindevelopinganAI,considerthefollowinglanguages: AIML C C# C++ Prolog Python Databasedevelopment Databasedeveloperscreateandmaintaindatabases.Ifyou'reinterestedincreatingormaintainingadatabase,consideranyofthefollowinglanguages: DBASE FoxPro MySQL SQL VisualFoxPro Gamedevelopment Gamedevelopmentinvolvescreatingcomputergamesorotherentertainmentsoftware.Ifyou'reinterestedindevelopingagame,considerthefollowinglanguages: C C# C++ DarkBASIC Java Computerdriversorotherhardwaredevelopment Computerdriversandprogramminghardwareinterfacesupportareanecessityforhardwarefunctionality.Ifyou'reinterestedindevelopingdriversorsoftwareinterfacesforhardwaredevices,considerthefollowinglanguages: Assembly C Internetandwebpagedevelopment InternetandwebpagedevelopmentaretheessenceoftheInternet.Withoutdevelopers,theInternetwouldnotexist.Ifyou'reinterestedincreatingwebpages,Internetapplications,orotherInternet-relatedtasks,considerthefollowinglanguages: HDML HTML Java JavaScript Perl PHP Python XML Scriptdevelopment Althoughitisnotlikelytobecomeacareer,knowinghowtocreateanddevelopscriptscanincreaseproductivityforyouoryourcompany,savingyoucountlesshours.Ifyou'reinterestedindevelopingscripts,considerthefollowinglanguages: AutoHotkey awk bash Batchfile Perl Python Tcl Howmanyprogramminglanguagesarethere? Ascomputershaveevolved,manydifferentcomputerprogramminglanguagescreatedforvarioustypesofdevelopment.Althoughwedohaveseveraldozenlanguageslistedonoursite,therearehundredsthatwedon'thavelisted.Togetanideaofthedifferentprogramminglanguages,youcanvisitTheHelloWorldCollection,whichgivesademoofhowtowrite"HelloWorld"inover591differentprogramminglanguages. Whatarethetopprogramminglanguages? Therearemanywaysthisquestioncouldbeanswered.However,wefeelthebestmethodistorelyonthedatafromGitHub,aservicethathostsover96millionsoftwareprojects.Inthechartbelow,GitHubshowsthetop10programminglanguagesfrom2014to2018. Inthechart,youcanseethetop10languagesare:JavaScript,Java,Python,PHP,C++,C#,TypeScript,Shell,C,andRuby.ThecompleteoverviewofgrowinglanguageslistisontheGitHubOctoversepage. Tip Ifyou'relearningtoprogram,werecommendlearningthelanguagethatwillsuityourneedsorthatothersinyourindustryratherthanthemostpopularlanguage. Relatedinformation Programminglanguagehistory. HowdoIcreateacomputerprogram? Whyaretheresomanyprogramminglanguages? Whatwasthefirstcomputerprogramminglanguage? Whatjobsareavailableinthecomputerindustry? HelloWorld,Language,OOPL,Programming,Programmingterms,Pseudocode Wasthispageuseful?YesNoFeedbackE-mailSharePrint