INTRODUCTION TO
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
WHAT IS A PROGRAM?
It is a set of instructions about how a specific
task is to be performed.
It is a sequence of instructions that can be
executed by a computer.
A program makes a computer usable.
Without a program, a computer, even the
most powerful one, is nothing more than an
object. Similarly, without a player, a piano is
nothing more than a wooden box.
2
WHAT IS
PROGRAMMING?
It is a process of instructing
the computer to perform
some desired action.
It is the art of making a
computer do what you want
it to do.
Computer programming is
the act of composing the
selected programming
language’s elements in the
order that will cause the
desired effect. The effect
could be different in every
specific case – it’s up to the
programmer’s imagination,
knowledge and experience.
3
A language is a means (and a
tool) for expressing and
recording thoughts. There
are many languages all
WHAT IS A around us. Some of them
LANGUAGE? require neither speaking nor
writing, such as body
language; it’s possible to
express your deepest feelings
very precisely without saying
a word.
Another language you use each
day is your mother tongue,
which you use to manifest your
will and to think about reality.
4
We can say that each language (machine or
natural, it doesn’t matter) consists of the
following elements:
an alphabet: a set of symbols used to build
words of a certain language (e.g., the Latin
alphabet for English, the Cyrillic alphabet for
Russian, Kanji for Japanese, and so on)
a lexis aka a dictionary: a set of words the
language offers its users (e.g., the word
“computer” comes from the English language
dictionary, while “cmoptrue” doesn’t; the word
“chat” is present both in English and French
dictionaries, but their meanings are different)
WHAT MAKES A
LANGUAGE?
5
a syntax: a set of rules (formal or informal,
written or felt intuitively) used to determine if a
certain string of words forms a valid sentence
(e.g., “I am a python” is a syntactically correct
phrase, while “I a python am” isn’t)
semantics: a set of rules determining if a
certain phrase makes sense (e.g., “I ate a
doughnut” makes sense, but “A doughnut ate
me” doesn’t)
WHAT MAKES A
LANGUAGE?
6
WHAT IS A
PROGRAMMING
A Programming
LANGUAGE? Language is…
a vocabulary and set of
grammatical rules for
instructing the computer
to perform specific tasks.
7
CLASSIFICATIONS
OF PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES
8
HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGE
A programming language that crudely
resembles human language, i.e.
English. Ex. C, Java, Visual Basic
9
ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
An intermediary language wherein
instructions written in this language are
expressed in a slightly readable form. This
language makes use of English-like
abbreviations to represent the elementary
operations of the computer.
10
MACHINE LANGUAGE
A programming language that can be
executed directly by a computer. Instructions
written in this language are coded as strings
of 0s and 1s. It is therefore considered as the
“natural language” of computers.
11
Compilation – the source program is
translated once (however, this act must be
repeated each time you modify the source
code) by getting a file (e.g., an .exe file if
the code is intended to be run under MS
Windows) containing the machine code; now
you can distribute the file worldwide; the
program that performs this translation is
COMPILATION called a compiler or translator;
VS.
INTERPRETATION Interpretation – you (or any user of the
code) can translate the source program each
time it has to be run; the program
performing this kind of transformation is
called an interpreter, as it interprets the code
every time it is intended to be executed; it
also means that you cannot just distribute the
source code as-is, because the end-user also
needs the interpreter to execute it.
12
TIMELINE OF
PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES
13
https://www.thesoftwareguild.com/blog/history
14
-of-programming-languages/
https://javaconceptoftheday.com/history-of-
programming-languages/
15
https://tutovideocrack.com/most-popular-
programming-languages-1965-2019/ n
16
https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-
news/trends/programming-languages-you-
should-learn-in-2020
https://www.mastergradeit.co.za/the-5-best-
programming-languages-to-learn-in-2020/ 17
GENERATIONS OF
PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES
18
http://generationsofprogramminglanguage.blo
gspot.com/2015/11/generations-of-
programming-language-low.html
19
20
http://generationsofprogramminglanguage.blo
gspot.com/2015/11/generations-of-
21
programming-language-low.html
THANK YOU ☺
