Programming Languages of Computer

 

Programming Languages: Types and  Characteristics

A computer is a machine and it understands its machine language. If you want to make computer function, then you have to create a programme so that it can understand and perform. It can’t perform a single task without any command. It cannot provide any solution for any problem without the instruction. These instructions are called programme. These programme help computer in solving our problems. So the main thing is programme here, which is also called set of instructions, these instructions are in machine language which computer understands and then performs.

Take example of dictionary. If you are creating a software titled Dictionary. Then you have to programme in that way that when you search a word for its meaning, the meaning is retrieved. So it solves our query. So these applications are programmed in such a way that our works get easier. Another example is calculator. When you are doing shopping and you brings out mobile and search calculator app. Here you add all the billing together and gets results within seconds. So this remarkable things is done because of its programming.

So now you must have understood the meaning of Programming. The writing of program is also called programming. Computer does not understand natural language like English, Hindi, Bengali, etc. To communicate with computer we have to provide instructions or commands which it understands. Learning a computer language means you have to know about symbols, words and rules of the language. Every language is developed for specific application. There are lots of languages meant for programming.

You can categorise programming in two types:

1.      System Programme

2.      Application Programme       

Now I will describe it for better understanding.

1.      System Programme : You can’t even on your computer without system programme. It’s of no use. So you can understand its importance. For example, when there is operation system installed then only your computer starts. The Operating system is itself a system programme. It is programmed in such a way that the computer starts functioning. This operating system controls input, output devices, memory, processor, etc. So the programming is done so that all these hardware can function according to requirement. For Example there is C language. It is used especially to develop system software.

2.      Application Programme: These programmes are done according to the requirement. You are working somewhere and you need specific software to deal that particular work. Now you talk to developer and make him understand your requirement. They will make a application by programming in such a way that you can now do work as u thought. For Example I am a librarian; I work in Library and want software to automate library services. They will do programming and make software, where you can retrieve any information.

Now I will discuss Types of Programming:

One thing you can get in mind why we do different types of programming. See we create lots of applications these days. Every application needs different types of language for programming. As you know some applications are for calculating, retrieval, database, engineering, drawing, report generation, designing web page, graphics, etc.  So every application requires different programming.

1.      Procedural Language: Programming is written in such a way that statements are written in sequence so that you can manipulate data item and change the contents of memory cells. This is called Procedural Language. The basic operation of these languages is used for storing and retrieving data values.

                           i.          FORTRAN – The FORTRAN word is derived from Formula Translation. You must have got its meaning as the name suggests that the FORTRAN language is about Formula. It is used in making the application for engineering where formulas are used. Its first version was used in 1957. FORTRAN is also called as first high level language. FORTRAN is suitable for programmings that are based on mathematical or computational oriented.

                          ii.          COBOL – It is derived from Common Business Oriented Language. It was programmed in such a way to serve the Business requirements. For example, to manage inventories and payrolls. So here the programming is done to generate reports related to business profession. The Master files are programmed in such a way that it gets updated from time to time automatically. The master files have all the important records related to business like the items details and their manufacturers. How much quantity is left and required. So COBOL is used to make this sort of application which gives output results quickly.

                         iii.          PASCAL - This programming language PASCAL is named after Blaise Pascal, who invented Pascaline calculator. This language main motive was design and implement good programming techniques. It’s easy to read and learn syntax. Delphi uses this programming language to develop windows based applications like graphical user interface. PASCAL is not much used as commercial language.

                         iv.          C – It was developed in early 1970s by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Laboratories. It was developed for doing system programming. UNIX was the operating system which was written in C. It is very popular programming language.Firstly because of relationship with UNIX and other reason is its speed. The speed is very good to develop and execute any application. The important feature of C is that it provides data type called pointer. These pointers are used in the areas of writing system programming, operating systems, assemblers and it helps to communicate with input and output devices. It is widely used for general programming also.

2.      Object Oriented Programming – This language was started by Alan Kay’s work at Xerox Palo Alto Research centre in early 1970s. The main concept of this language is to divide the major task into sub task. For example we have library system. It has modules like Acquisition, cataloguing, circulation, etc. Each object is an example of a task performed in library system.

   JAVA – This programming language is used to develop World Wide Web. Java programme is done in such a way that it can fetch data across the web easily just like data accessing from a local system.JAVA has the following features like it is object oriented, simple, distributed, interpreted, secure, robust, high performance, and dynamic language. By using JAVA you can do multithreading. It means that it can perform multiple tasks at the same time.

3. Special Purpose Languages – Now we will discuss the special purpose languages designed for special application or task. It is in contrast to procedural language which is general purpose language. These special purpose languages are very popular because of their application.

i.                 Structured Query Language – As you know that SQL is designed for the purpose of creating database. The database is the collections of related information and very necessary for a organization. The database is updated time to time as new information is being stored and users retrieve that information when required. The information is stored in central servers and can be accessed by different clients on network. For example, A library database have all the details about a book. Its author name, title, publisher, year of publication, etc. The queries are done to retrieve the information. So such queries are framed with the help of SQL. If I need a book of KHURMI, author of a book. The query will bring results of all the books written by KHURMI.

ii.                Practical Extraction and Report Language (PERL) – It is designed to scan arbitrary text files; extract various kinds of information within the text files. Perl uses advanced pattern matching techniques to speed up the scanning process of large amounts of data.

iii.               Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). The language used to create HTML documents is seen with the help of web browser. These are called web pages. There are special characters used in HTML known as tags, which are used for formatting. These are called as source code which is modified to bring the desired results like special effects. These tags are closed in brackets and come in pair (<>).

 

Characteristics of a Good Programming Language

There are many programming Languages which were developed. Some are very popular and some are not so popular, even they are powerful. There might be many other reasons for the popularity of that programming language but one may be the characteristics of it. Some of the characteristics of programming language are:

                           i.          Simplicity – A good programming language must be simple and easy to use. It should provide with a clear and unified set of concepts which could be easily learned. It should be easy to develop and implement. The language written in simple language is easy to maintain.

                          ii.          Naturalness – A good language application design should look natural. It should provide reasonable operators, data structures and control structures in order to facilitate the users to code easily and efficiently.

                         iii.          Efficiency – The program in good language are translated efficiently in machine code. They are executed properly. It uses little space also.

                         iv.          Structuredness – The language should allow the users to write their programs based on the concept of structured programming. It helps during programming .as such that the problems are looked logically and less error are created during writing a programme.

                          v.          Locality – A good programming language stops a programmer to jump around visually as the text is prepared. This helps him concentrate on programming.

                         vi.          Extensibility – A good programming language should allow the extension mechanism. Some language are weak in this aspect.

                       vii.          Abstraction – It means that while programming, complicated structures can be ignored.