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01 Lesson 2

The document discusses programming languages and how they enable communication between humans and computers. It explains that computers understand machine language comprised of binary code, while assembly language uses mnemonics to represent machine instructions. Higher-level languages like C++ and Python were developed to make programming easier for humans. Programs in any language must be translated into machine code, either by compilers that translate the entire program at once or interpreters that translate line-by-line.

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Jeoffer Viloria
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36 views

01 Lesson 2

The document discusses programming languages and how they enable communication between humans and computers. It explains that computers understand machine language comprised of binary code, while assembly language uses mnemonics to represent machine instructions. Higher-level languages like C++ and Python were developed to make programming easier for humans. Programs in any language must be translated into machine code, either by compilers that translate the entire program at once or interpreters that translate line-by-line.

Uploaded by

Jeoffer Viloria
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LESSON 02

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

LET’S PROCESS
Computer programs, known as software, are instructions that tell a computer what
to do. Computers do not understand human languages; therefore, programs must be written
in languages computers can understand. There are hundreds of programming languages,
developed to make the programming process easier for people. However, all programs must be
converted into the instructions the computer can execute.

1. MACHINE LANGUAGE

A computer’s native language, which differs among different types of computers, is its
machine language—a set of built-in primitive instructions. These instructions are in the form
of binary code, so if you want to give a computer an instruction in its native language, you
have to enter the instruction as binary code. For example, to add two numbers, you might have
to write an instruction in binary code, as follows: 1101101010011010

2. ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

Programming in machine language is a tedious process. Moreover, programs written in


machine language are very difficult to read and modify. For this reason, assembly language
was created in the early days of computing as an alternative to machine languages. Assembly
language uses a short descriptive word, known as a mnemonic, to represent each of the
machine-language instructions. For example, the mnemonic add typically means to add
numbers and sub means to subtract numbers. To add the numbers 2 and 3 and get the result,
you might write an instruction in assembly code like this:

add 2, 3, result

Assembly languages were developed to make programming easier. However, because the
computer cannot execute assembly language, another program—called an assembler—is used
to translate assembly-language programs into machine code, as shown in Figure 1.8.

Writing code in assembly language is easier than in machine language. However, it is


still tedious to write code in assembly language. An instruction in assembly language
essentially corresponds to an instruction in machine code. Writing in assembly requires that
you know how the CPU works. Assembly language is referred to as a low-level language,
because assembly language is close in nature to machine language and is machine dependent.

Source: https://computationstructures.org/notes/images/assembly-process.png
Figure 1.8. An assembler translates assembly-language instructions into machine code.

3. HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGE

In the 1950s, a new generation of programming languages known as high-level


languages emerged. They are platform-independent, which means that you can write a
program in a high-level language and run it in different types of machines. High-level languages
are English-like and easy to learn and use. The instructions in a high-level programming

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language are called statements. Here, for example, is a high-level language statement that
computes the area of a circle with a radius of 5:

area = 5 * 5 * 3.1415

There are many high-level programming languages, and each was designed for a specific
purpose. Table 1.1 lists some popular ones.

A program written in a high-level language is called a source program or source code.


Because a computer cannot execute a source program, a source program must be translated
into machine code for execution. The translation can be done using another programming tool
called an interpreter or compiler.

An interpreter reads one statement from the source code, translates it to the machine
code or virtual machine code, and then executes it immediately, as shown in Figure 1.9b. Note
that a statement from the source code may be translated into several machine instructions. A
compiler translates the entire source code into a machine-code file, and the machine-code file
is then executed, as shown in Figure
1.9a.

Table 1.1. Popular High-Level Programming Languages

Language Description
Named for Ada Lovelace, who worked on mechanical general-purpose
computers. The Ada language was developed for the Department of
Ada
Defense and is used mainly in defense
projects.
Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It was designed to be
BASIC
learned and used easily by beginners.
Developed at Bell Laboratories. C combines the power of an assembly
C
language with the ease of use and portability of a high-level language.
C++ C++ is an object-oriented language, based on C.
Pronounced “C Sharp.” It is a hybrid of Java and C++ and was developed
C#
by Microsoft.
COmmon Business Oriented Language. It is used for business
COBOL
applications.
FORmula TRANslation. It is popular for scientific and mathematical
FORTRAN
applications.
Developed by Sun Microsystems, now part of Oracle. It is widely used for
Java
developing platform-independent Internet applications.
Named for Blaise Pascal, who pioneered calculating machines in the
Pascal seventeenth century. It is a simple, structured, general-purpose
language primarily used for teaching programming.
A simple general-purpose scripting language good for writing short
Python
programs.
Visual Basic was developed by Microsoft and it enables the
Visual Basic
programmers to rapidly develop graphical user interfaces.

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Source: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ed43d3565d56e6d317b3a9c408f44e5d
Figure 1.9. (a) A compiler translates the entire source program into a machine-language file for
execution. (b) An interpreter translates and executes a program one statement at a time.

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