What are the different computer languages?

Programming language is used to give instructions to the computer in a language that the computer can understand.

Computer languages are divided into three types, as follows:

• Machine language
• Symbolic language
• High-level language

Machine Language

A computer is a machine. Since its memory can only store 1s and 0s, instructions must be given to the computer in the form of a stream of 1s and 0s, that is, binary code.

These are easy for machines to understand.

Programs written in binary code can be directly input into the computer for execution, which is called machine language.

The advantages of machine language include:

• Execution speed is very fast.
• It is difficult to write and read machine language programs.
• Machine instructions are difficult to remember.

Symbolic language

is also called assembly language.

Assembler contains "mnemonics".

"Mnemonic" refers to information that is easy to remember in abbreviated form.

Advantages of symbolic languages include:

• Assembly language is easier to read and write than machine language.

• Mnemonics are easy to remember.

Disadvantages include:

• Assemblers are machine dependent.
• The execution speed is slower.
• "Assembler" converts assembly language into machine language.

High-level language

A language that is close to the local language is called a high-level language.

It has control structures and I/O functions.

For example, FORTRAN, COBOL, PASCAL, C, C, etc.

The advantages of high-level languages are as follows:

• Machine independence, that is, the program is "portable".
• Easy to learn and understand.
• Writing programs takes less time.

The disadvantages are as follows:

• High-level language programs require a converter to convert them into machine language.

• A compiler (or) interpreter is used to convert a high-level language into machine language.

• The compiler converts all instructions in the program at once. The interpreter translates one statement at a time.

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