Computer Programming Languages Classification - Report Example

?Introduction Computer programming languages are engineered by human beings for conveying instructions to the machines solving their problems. The computer programming languages have tremendously been increased (developed), used and discarded, since the computer science recognized as a distinct academic discipline. As the computer science is an evolving and dynamic discipline, therefore, it is difficult to categorize the already developed computer languages. Some of the authors have classified the computer languages into three (3) categories include: machine level language, assembly level language and high level language (Venit and Drake, 2010). Whereas, the other authors have categorized the computer languages keeping in view the different aspects of the computer language including programming paradigm. The categories include: the procedural programming languages, structured programming languages, object oriented programming languages, functional programming languages, event driven programming, compiled and interpreted computer programming languages (Hurst, n.d). The computer languages are based on the syntax and semantic rules. It is pertinent to compare the programming languages based on the categories of the languages as well as predefined comparison criteria should be used. The paper focuses on three (3) main categories of the computer programming languages and presents an introduction to the programming languages, types of the programming languages, comparison of the programming languages, design and implementation phases of the programming languages and a conclusion based on critical analysis of the programming languages. Computer Programming languages Classification Computer programming languages have been developed to solve the human problems effectively and efficiently. Different categories of the programming languages accept, translate, and execute the instructions in diverse manners. Consider the ‘high level languages’, the programmers / coders write code in a more human understandable language as per the predefined syntax of the selected programming language platform. In other words, the ‘high level languages’ are developed so that the human beings can easily understand and use them. It is pertinent to mention here that there are three (3) models for execution of the ‘high level languages’ include: interpretation, compilation and translation. The interpretation refers to the execution of code without its compilation and requires an interpreter to interpret the code into machine language. The compilation refers to the translation of the code into executable form by using either machine code generation technique or intermediate representation technique. Keeping in view the above facts, it is scrutinized that the ‘high level languages’ can further be classified based on the execution models they adopt to execute the program / code. Furthermore, it can be stated that the ‘high level languages’ are slow as compared to the assembly and machine languages. The high level programming languages include: C, C++, FORTRAN, Java, etc. The assembly languages are low level computer programming languages which directly correspond to the computer architecture. The assembly languages are computer architecture dependent in contrast to the ‘high level languages’ which can be ported across multiple different systems. The computer does not understand the assembly language; therefore, the programs created in the assembly languages require assemblers to convert the code into executable machine code. In Assembly language the programmers use the symbolic computer addresses which are converted into the absolute addresses by the assembler. As compared to the ‘high level languages’, the assembly languages are difficult to understand and learn by human beings. The examples of the assembly language include: the AUTOCODER (usable for IBM mainframe systems), FASM (Flat Assembler), MASM (Microsoft Macro Assembler), etc. The third (3rd) main classification of the programming languages is the machine level languages which are only understood by the central processing unit (CPU) of the computer system. The CPU directly receives the instructions and conveys the same to diverse and respective computer addresses. Each instruction acts upon a specific task including load data, jump, or an ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) operation. The machine languages are comprised on the binary code i-e either zero (0) or one (1). The machine language is difficult and tedious to use, as the programmer need to manage each and every bit and calculate the numerical addresses of the computer manually. It is one of the main reasons that the usage of the machine languages has been reduced and such languages are only used in a situation that require severe debugging or optimization. However, these languages are very efficient as they do not require any translation and directly understood by the CPU. The examples of the machine language include: ARM, IBM S/360, MIPS R2000 / R3000, etc. (Kamthane, 2011). Comparison of Programming Language Classification The following table shows a comparison of the three programming language types (Ghoshal, 2011). Machine Assembly High Level Lang. Easy to Understand No No (but easier than machine language) Yes Require Translation No Yes Yes Portability (Architecture Independent) No No Yes Easy to code No No (but easier than machine language) Yes Efficient Execution Yes No (but faster than High level language) No Easy Debugging No No (but easier than machine language) Yes Syntax Von Neumann Architecture Equivalent Assembly Equivalent High level Language 10 000 001 0010 01 01 10 000 001 0100 01 01 10 100 001 0000 01 10 10 000 010 0000 01 10 111 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 111 1 LOAD R1 5 LOAD R2 5 ADD R0 R1 R2 SAVE R0 6 HALT Number1 = 5 Number2 = 5 Sum = Number1 + Number2 Quit Effort Level High Medium Low Memory Addresses Require to remember / know At the program level only No Elements of Programming Languages There are various elements of the programming languages which are used to process / transform the data. These elements include but are not limited to the syntax, semantics, and standard library and run time system. The syntax refers to the form of the language, whereas, the meaning of the language is known to be as ‘semantics’. The syntax of the programming languages may differ from each other. The syntax examples of each programming language classification are given in the above table. The syntax and semantics are used to create the program, where the syntax is the sequence of character used to perform a task and the semantic is the logic utilized to create a program. The programming languages have to follow the syntax and semantics rules. Furthermore, the elements of programming language also include the data, subprograms and control statements. It is pertinent to mention here that every programming language has elements which are directly dependent on the type of the computer language. Programming Language Design and Implementation There are various guidelines that need to be considered during programming languages development phases include but not limited to the design and implementation. It is always recommended that while designing a programming language, the designers may consider all the requirements of all the stakeholders / users. The developed programming languages should fulfill all the requirements that have been identified from the stakeholders. Moreover, the programming language may be developed in a way that the programmers may be given much control so that the programmers can create programs in the way they want. The user interface of the programming language may be designed as simple and straightforward as possible. Once the programming language has been designed and developed, then it needs to be implemented. There are two (2) main approaches of the programming language implementation include: the interpretation and compilation. The programming language would be dependent on at least one of the approaches of the programming language implementation (Prat and Zelkowitz, 2001). Conclusion Many classifications of the programming languages have been identified by diverse authors, however, the paper focused on the three (3) classifications of the programming languages. It is pertinent to mention here that the paper has identified and utilized various factors to compare and characterize these three (3) classifications of the programming languages. One of the main factors for characterizing the programming languages is their elements. Every programming language has its self derived elements which need to be followed by the programmers while creating / developing programs in the respective programming languages. It has been derived that these languages have been used for achieving diverse purposes. The programmers opt for the type of programming language keeping in view its usage and purpose. It is important to mention that the ‘high level languages’ are less efficient as compared to the machine level languages and assembly languages. But it is for sure that the machine level languages and assembly languages can only be used by the expert programmers, as these languages are difficult to use. Moreover, the ‘high level languages’ are getting easier as many of them are now providing WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) user interface facility. It is one of the main reasons for which utilization of the ‘high level languages’ is becoming more, whereas, usage of the remaining classifications (machine and assembly language) is becoming lesser with the passage of time. Reference List Ben-Ari, M., 2006. Understanding Programming Languages [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 27 June 2013] Hurst, J., n.d. Types of Programming Languages [pdf] Available at: < http://www.giac.org/cissp-papers/97.pdf > [Accessed 26 June 2013] Kamthane, A., 2011. Programming in C. New Delhi: Pearson Education India Prat, T. W., and Zelkowitz, M. V., 2001. Programming Languages: Design and Implementation. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Pearson Education. Venit, S., and Drake, E., 2010. Prelude to programming: concepts and design. New York: Addison-Wesley. Ghoshal, S., 2011. Computer Architecture and Organization. New Delhi: Pearson Education India Read More