There are several high-level programming languages in use. The following computer languages are popular and have widespread applications:
Table of Contents
List of high-level programming languages
- BASIC and Visual Basic (VB)
- C and C++
- FORTRAN
- PASCAL and Delphi
- COBOL
- Smalltalk
- Java and JavaScript
- HTML etc.
Some other programming languages
- ALGOL
- Forth
- RPG
- ADA
- PL/1 (programming Languages/1)
- Snobol
- LISP
BASIC, QBASIC, and Visual Basic
BASIC stands for Beginner’s all-purpose symbolic instruction code. It is a comparatively easy language for beginners. Initially BASIC was the commonly used language for microcomputers. It was developed by J.G. Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz of Dartmouth college of the USA in 1964.
Many different versions of BASIC are in use. Most microcomputers use QBASIC devised by a company called Microsoft. BASIC Has several advantages over the other computer languages, they are:
- It is easy to learn and use.
- It presents several powerful additional facilities not available in many other languages.
- It is designed for interactive use rather than batch processing mode. The user can correct errors as and when they arise during program execution.
The language is easily adaptable to all computers. BASIC is easy and suitable for non-professionals.
Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) is a widely used program development package. It is by far the most successful rapid application development (RAD) tool for Microsoft Windows applications.
VB enables a programmer doesn’t have to worry about any of the code that generates the user interface; it is handled automatically by the VB compiler, which creates an executable program capable of running on its own. Using VB, even a novice programmer can develop an impressive application.
A huge variety of accessory tools enable VB programmers to quickly accomplish tasks such as building interfaces to databases and increasing the functionality of the Web page.
VB script: It is a scripting language based on VB. It was created for writing scripts (short programs) that can be embedded in Web pages.
C and C++
Dennis Ritchie, a programmer at AT&T Bell Laboratories in the USA designed the C language in the mid-1970s. C allows a programmer to write code with low-level access to the hardware but with a high-level structured programming concept. C is a popular language.
C proved suitable for writing programs that had previously been written exclusively in assembly languages. AT &T UNIX operating system was written in C. The language is portable to microcomputers. Most PC applications and system programs are written in C.
A more recent version of C is C++, which incorporates object-oriented features, but does not force programmers to adhere to the object-oriented model. Thus, it provides flexibility and high execution speed. The C++ language is in widespread use for professional program development. Software giant Microsoft Corporation uses C++ for application development.
FORTRAN
FORTRAN stands for formula translation. It was the first programming language developed by IBM in 1957. It has been modified many times and the later versions were given the name FORTRAN II and FORTRAN IV, the most popular version which was developed in 1966.
The latest additions are FORTRAN 77 and FORTRAN 90. FORTRAN syntax is very rigid. It is popular in engineering and scientific calculations.
Pascal and Delphi
Pascal is popular on small computers. Pascal was designed and developed by Nicholas Wirth to teach computer programming to students. It belongs to the ALGOL family. A pascal program consists of nested blocks for structured programming.
Like most older programming languages, pascal has been updated to reflect new approaches to programming. An object-oriented version of Pascal provides the foundation for Delphi, a compiler created by Borland International that closely resembles Visual Basic.
COBOL
It stands for Common Business Oriented Language. It is a Popular business language for data processing. It was designed in the late 1960s with a view to providing a common language for business applications. COBOL is independent of any specific computer system, and thus a program written in the language can be transferred to another computer with marginal changes only.
COBRA
It stands for Common Object Request Broker Architecture, most commonly known as middleware. CORBA defines how objects can communicate with each other across a network, even if the objects are written in dissimilar programming languages.
Microsoft corporation has its own standard, called component object Model (COM), which works best in the Windows platform.
Smalltalk
Developed in the early 1970s at Xerox Corporation. Smalltalk is considered a 100 percent pure object-oriented programming language.
Although the language is not often chosen for professional software development, more than a few corporations have chosen Smalltalk for mission-critical applications. However, Smalltalk is facing stiff competition from the newest object-oriented language on the scene, Java.
Java
It is one of the most powerful and relatively new programming languages. It is an object-oriented programming language, created by Sun Microsystems, is revolutionizing the programming applications for the world wide web (WWW) and corporate intranets and extranets.
Java is similar to C++ and is a much simpler, secure, and platform-independent programming language. Java is also specifically designed for real-time, interactive, Web-based network applications. Java applications consisting of small application programs, called applets, can be executed by any computer and any operating system anywhere in a network.
The ease of creating Java applets and distributing them from network servers to client PCs and network computers is a major reason for Java’s popularity. Applets can be small special-purpose application programs or small modules of larger application programs.
Applets can reside at Web sites on a network, intranet, or extranets. Applets are platform-independent too- they can run on Windows, OS/2, UNIX, and Macintosh systems without modifications.
Like VBScript, JavaScript is a scripting language designed for use on Web pages. JavaScript is not based on Java. It was created by Netscape communications. It is a simple, easy-to-learn language for writing scripts on Web pages, and it is in widespread use on the Web.
HTML
This is one of the most important high-level programming languages.
It stands for HyperText Markup Language, It is a page description language that creates hypertext or hypermedia documents. HTML inserts control codes within a document at points that create links (known as a hyperlink) to other parts of the documents or to other documents anywhere on the WWW.
HTML embeds control codes in the ASCII text of a document that designates titles, headings, graphics, and multimedia components, as well as hyperlinks within the document. Several programs in the top software suites automatically convert documents into HTML formats.
These include Web browsers, word processing, and spreadsheet programs, database managers, and presentation graphics packages. These and other specialized HTML editor programs provide a range of features to design and create multimedia Web pages without formal HTML programming.
w3schools is a very powerful platform for practicing high-level programming language.
Some other High-Level Programming Languages
ALGOL
It is a short name for Algorithmic language. Originally developed in 1958, it is a more perdition language than FORTRAN for scientific numeric calculations.
Forth
It is a powerful language designed only for fourth-generation computers. It is useful in home computing.
RPG
RPG stands for Report Program generator. It is a commercial language specially developed for reporting.
ADA
This language was designed by the U.S. defense department for its real-time applications and is also suitable for parallel processing.
PL/1 (programming Languages/1)
This language combines the features of both COBOL and FORTRAN and can be used for scientific as well as business applications. It was introduced in the late 1960s by IBM. Its application is limited to only IBM computers.
Snobol
It was developed in 1962. It is quite different from languages in the sense that it can be used for processing messages, patterns, and strings.
LISP
LISP stands for the list processor. It is an artificial intelligence programming language.
Hope you find all high-level programming languages otherwise please feel free to comment below.
You may like also:
Thank you for your blog post.Thanks Again. Want more.
Very helpful and informative content, thanks for sharing.