computer programming language, any of various languages for expressing a set of detailed instructions for a digital computer. Such instructions can be executed directly when they are in the computer manufacturer-specific numerical form known as machine language, after a simple substitution process when expressed in a corresponding assembly language, or after translation from some “higher-level” language. Although there are many computer languages, relatively few are widely used.
Machine and assembly languages are “low-level,” requiring a programmer to manage explicitly all of a computer’s idiosyncratic features of data storage and operation. In contrast, high-level languages shield a programmer from worrying about such considerations and provide a notation that is more easily written and read by programmers.
Machine and assembly level language
A machine language consists of the numeric codes for the operations that a particular computer can execute directly. The codes are strings of 0s and 1s, or binary digits (“bits”), which are frequently converted both from and to hexadecimal (base 16) for human viewing and modification.
Assembly language is one level above machine language. It uses short mnemonic codes for instructions and allows the programmer to introduce names for blocks of memory that hold data
Algorithmic languages
Algorithmic languages are designed to express mathematical or symbolic computations. They can express algebraic operations in a notation similar to mathematics and allow the use of subprograms that package commonly used operations for reuse. They were the first high-level languages.
