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COMPUTER LANGUAGES

Human needs a common language to communicate with each other. Similarly, computers need
a language to communicate with its user, take instructions and to perform operations. The
language that is required by a computer is called computer language. This is also known as a
programming language.

It is a set of words, symbols and codes that the computer can understand. There are a number of
programming languages worldwide. Computer languages are classified into two major categories:
Low-level language and High-level language.

LOW-LEVEL LANGUAGE
Low-level language is a programming language that deals with the computer’s hardware

components. It is machine-dependent. A set of low-level language instructions written for a
particular type of computer will not work on a computer with a different design. These languages
are also known as computers’ native languages.
There are two categories of low-level languages:

Machine Language (1GL)
Machine language is the only language understood by the computer. It is also known as the first
generation language (1GL). Machine language is very difficult for programmers to use because

it only consists of two digits, 0 and 1, called binary digits or bits. Where the bit ‘0’ represents the
OFF state and the bit ‘1’ represents the ON state.

Assembly Language (2GL)
Assembly language is also known as second-generation language (2GL). It is the language in
which program codes are written in the form of alphanumeric symbols called 'Mnemonics Code'
instead of 0 and 1. In the assembly language, a programmer writes abbreviations such as A for
addition, C for compare, L for load, M for Multiply, etc.

HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGE
High-level language are designed to be more understandable and closer to human languages,
making them easier for programmers to use. It is machine-independent language. However, they
need to be translated into binary or machine language. Programs written in high-level languages

are called source code. Since the computer understands only 0s and 1s, all high-level languages
require a software called language processor or translator to convert the instructions into
machine language are also called object code. Let’s discuss about some high-level languages.

Third-Generation Languages (3GL)
In third-generation languages (3GL), the programmer writes a series of English-like words that
tell the computer what to do and how to accomplish it. Many third-generation languages also use

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