PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
MACHINE LANGUAGE
(1940s)
“Native language” of computers, in
binary code. Consists of operation code
and operand. Not understandable by
humans. Hardware dependent.
ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
(1950s-1960s)
More intelligible to humans thanks to its
“mnemonics”, but not for computers.
Code needs to be translated in binary
code. Hardware dependent.
HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES
(1960s-present)
Hardware independent. Use of statements
(syntax + semantics), that need to be
interpreted or compiled. PROCEDURE-
ORIENTED LANGUAGES for business (COBOL),
science (FORTRAN) and multipurpose (PASCAL).
NONPROCEDURAL LANGUAGES
(1970s-1990s)
People unfamiliar with programming can
control computers. English-like words to
retrieve and format data. QUERY LANGUAGES,
REPORT WIRTERS, APPLICATION GENERATORS.
NATURAL LANGUAGES
(1970s-today)
For solve problems by only giving constraints
and conditions to a computer with natural
language, thanks to NLP. Also used for AI.
Mercury, Proly and OPS5.
