GENERATIONS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
A low-level programming language is a programming language that provides little or no
abstraction from computer’s microprocessor. A high-level programming language is a
programming language that is more abstract, easier to use, and more portable across platforms.
LEVELS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
FIRST GENERATION OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
The first generation of programming language, or 1GL, is machine language. Machine language
is a set of instructions and data that a computer's central processing unit can execute directly.
Machine language statements are written in binary code, and each statement corresponds to one
machine action.
SECOND GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
The second generation programming language, or 2GL, is assembly language. Assembly
language is the human-readable notation for the machine language used to control specific
computer operations. An assembly language programmer writes instructions using symbolic
instruction codes that are meaningful abbreviations or mnemonics. An assembler is a program
that translates assembly language into machine language.
THIRD GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
The third generation of programming language, 3GL, or procedural language uses a series of
English-like words, which are closer to human language, to write instructions.
High-level programming languages make complex programming simpler and easier to read,
write and maintain. Programs written in a high-level programming language must be translated
into machine language by a compiler or interpreter. PASCAL, FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, C
and C++ are examples of third generation programming languages.
FOURTH GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
The fourth generation programming language or non-procedural language, often abbreviated as
4GL, enables users to access data in a database. A very high-level programming language is
often referred to as goal-oriented programming language because it is usually limited to a very
specific application and it might use syntax that is never used in other programming languages.
SQL, NOMAD and FOCUS are examples of fourth generation programming languages.
FIFTH GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
The fifth generation programming language or visual programming language is also known as
natural language. Provides a visual or graphical interface called a visual programming
environment, for creating source codes. Fifth generation programming allows people to interact
with computers without needing any specialized knowledge. People can talk to computers and
the voice recognition systems can convert spoken sounds into written words. Prolog and Mercury
are the best known fifth-generation languages.
http://learningarea5.blogspot.com/2010/07/generations-of-programming-language.html
HISTORY OF C++
The C language was developed in 1972 by Dennis Richie at Bell Telephone laboratories,
primarily as a systems programming language. That is, a language to write operating
systems with.
C’s excellent portability allowed UNIX to be recompiled on many different types of
computers, speeding its adoption. C and UNIX had their fortunes tied together, and C’s
popularity was in part tied to the success of UNIX as an operating system.
C ended up being so efficient and flexible that in 1973, Ritchie and Ken Thompson
rewrote most of the UNIX operating system using C.
Bjarne Stroustrup, a Danish and British trained computer scientist, began his work on "C
with Classes" in 1979, the idea of creating a new language originated from his experience
in programming for his Ph.D. thesis
1983- The name of the language was changed from C with Classes to C++ (++ being the
increment operator in C). New features were added including virtual functions, function
name and operator overloading, references, constants, user-controlled free-store memory
control, improved type checking, and BCPL style single-line comments with two forward
slashes (//)
1983- development of a proper compiler for C++, Cfront
1985- The first edition of The C++ Programming Language was released, providing an
important reference to the language, as there was not yet an official standard.
1985- The first commercial implementation of C++ was released in October
1989- Release 2.0 of C++ came in
1990- The Annotated C++ Reference Manual was published. This work became the basis
for the future standard. Late feature additions included templates, exceptions,
namespaces, new casts, and a Boolean type
1991- The updated second edition of The C++ Programming Language was released.
New features included multiple inheritance, abstract classes, static member functions,
const member functions, and protected members.
C++ continues to be used is and is one of the preferred programming languages to develop
professional applications.
http://www.learncpp.com/cpp-tutorial/03-introduction-to-cc/
Wikipedia c++
