- artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer.
- used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine, to express algorithms precisely, or as a mode of human communication.
- The first programming languages predate the modern computer.
- The 19th century had "programmable"looms and player piano scrolls which implemented what are today recognized as examples of domain-specific languages.
- In the 1940s, the first electrically powered digital computers were created.
- The first high- level programming languages to be designed for a computer was Plankalkul , developed for the German Z3 by Konrad Zuse between 1943 and 1945.
Specification of Programming Languages
- intended to provide a definition that the language users and the implementors can use to determine whether the behavior of a program is correct, given its source code.
- A programming language specification can take several forms, including the following:
- An explicit definition of the syntax, static semantics, and execution semantics of the language
- While syntax is commonly specified using a formal grammar, semantic definitions may be written in natural language (e.g., as in the C language)
- The syntax and semantics of the language are explicit in the behavior of the reference implementation.
- Example : Prolog or ANSI REXX
- The syntax and semantics of the language have to be inferred from this description, which may be written in natural or a formal language.
- Example : the C++ and Fortran specifications
- A programming language is used to write computer programs such as :
- applications
- utilities
- servers
- systems programs
- A program is written as a series of human understandable computer instructions that can be read by a compiler and linker, and translated into machine code so that a computer can understand and run it.
- These languages include Assembler, C or C++.
- Operating systems like Linux or Windows are written in C and C++.
- In the late 40s and early 50s, computer programs were entered by flicking switches.
- It was quickly realised how inefficient and slow that was and computer languages soon appeared.
- Through the 60s and 70s, these languages :
- Fortran
- Cobol
- Basic
- Java and C++ with C# starting to gain popularity and C holding its own.
- have many attempts to automate this process, and have computers write computer programs but the complexity is such that for now, humans still write the best computer programs.
- The widely used C++ programming language is about to be updated, as the ISO steering committee for the language has approved the final draft specifying its next version.
- The ISO/IEC Information Technology Task Force (ITTF) will review the steering committee's Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) will review and barring any complications, publish the draft later this year.
- It will be known as C++ 2011.
- Although sometimes derided for its complexity, C++ appears to be the third most popular programming language in use today, trailing only Java and C, according to the most recent Tiobe survey of programming languages.
http://www2.research.att.com/~bs/3rd.html
http://malaysiacrunch.blogspot.com/2009/01/most-popular-programming-languages.html
Citation :
