What are the different types of programming languages and how are programs implemented through them?

In this blog post, we’re going to talk about the different types of programming languages and how programs are implemented through them!

 

Nowadays, if you look around the modern world, almost everyone uses computers to do a lot of things. Most households have a computer. We use them to access the internet, surf the web, write documents, play games, and do tons of other things. These tasks are accomplished by giving the computer certain commands, which the computer then executes. However, the language that computers understand is structured differently than human language, so in order to communicate your intentions to a computer, you need an intermediary between the natural language that humans use and the machine language that computers can read. This intermediary is called a programming language. A programming language is a set of grammar rules for writing programs, which allows you to develop and use a wide variety of programs. So, what are the different types of programming languages and how do they implement programs?
Programming languages can be divided into two main categories. The first is low-level languages, which are designed to be easier for computers to understand than for humans. It’s very difficult to write a program in a low-level language because it’s not much different from machine language, and it’s hard for humans to understand it. On the other hand, high-level languages are user-centered and have properties similar to natural language, such as grammar and syntax. However, computers can’t understand them directly, so they need to be translated before they can run programs. In the early days of computer development, in the 1940s, only low-level languages were used, but in 1954, IBM developed FORTRAN, the first high-level language. From then on, the era of the third generation of programming languages began, following the first generation of machine languages and the second generation of low-level languages, and various high-level programming languages were developed. Among them, the C language is the mother of all programming languages in use today.

 

 

The C language was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie (D.M. Ritchie, 1941 ~ 2011) at AT&T Bell Labs. The B language was developed by K.L. Thompson (1943 ~ ) at the same laboratory, and the C language was developed by Dennis. C is still the most widely used programming language, although many other programming languages have been developed. The two main reasons for its widespread use are its specialization in implementing high-level, previously unheard-of programs and its universality, as it can be used on almost any computer. In fact, most OSes are implemented in C, and many others are written in higher-level languages that are influenced by C. For example, Linux, one of the most popular operating systems today, is based on C, and Apple’s flagship operating systems, OS X and iOS, are based on the objective-c language, which is the successor to C.
After the era of third-generation languages like C, fourth-generation and later programming languages addressed the problems of C and ushered in the era of object-oriented languages. The difference is that while third-generation languages viewed programs as simple lists of instructions, fifth-generation object-oriented languages viewed programs as “objects”. Each object can perform tasks assigned to it, and objects can communicate with each other to exchange results. The development of object-oriented languages allowed for simpler and more reliable programs. The concept of “object orientation” emerged in the early 1960s. Simula 67, a language developed in the 1960s by Kristen Nygaard and Ole-Johan Dah as an evolution of ALGOL, is considered the first object-oriented language, but it was not widely used. It wasn’t until the 1980s that practical object-oriented languages were developed. One of the most popular object-oriented languages is Java. Java was developed in 1991 by James Gosling (J.A. Gosling, 1955 ~ ) of Sun Microsystems. Java has a simple syntax, which makes it easy to write code, and its unique features make it OS-agnostic, which means it can be used in any environment. In addition to Java, almost all programming languages currently in use, such as C++, C#, Python, and objective-c, are also object-oriented languages.
So, what exactly does the process of implementing a program in one of these programming languages consist of? First, the programmer uses the programming language to write a source program through an input device. Since the written source program cannot be interpreted by a computer, a compiler, a piece of system software, runs a compilation process that translates the programming language into machine language. The result of this translation is called an object program. The process of combining the object program with the various external components (code, functions, etc.) needed to execute the program is called linking, and the software that executes it is called a linker. After the loading process, which moves the program from the secondary memory to the main memory, the CPU interprets the object program and outputs the result to the output device, and the program is executed.

 

 

These programs are used in everyday life. FORTRAN, which appeared in the early 1950s, was a programming language for scientific calculations, named Formula Translation. Because of its fast and simple calculations, programs written in FORTRAN were mainly used in engineering and mathematics. For general office programs, programs in COBOL were more useful. It was so influential that many banks in Korea maintained Cobol-based computer networks until a few years ago, and C, C++, and C#, which are the basis of many operating systems such as Linux, Unix, and Chrome OS, are highly versatile and are used in everyday life, such as security programs and home appliance control. Programming languages are also used to implement AI programs, and there are many languages such as LISP and PROLOG that are used to implement AI, and they are still being used in practice. For example, the A.I. program AARON is known to draw its own paintings by planning, coloring, and arranging them, rather than simply imitating photographs or paintings. AARON’s creator, Yale University professor Harold Cohen (1928 ~ 2016), was a painter and computer scientist who designed AARON using LISP, and in an interview with the BBC, he described AARON as a world-class painter with bold color choices. Programs have evolved to the point where they are uniquely capable of “creating” and have become an essential part of our daily lives outside of art.
As such, programming languages are involved in many aspects of modern life. From their humble beginnings as incomprehensible machine languages, developers have evolved them into languages that are much closer to humans, such as C, Java, and python. Whether we realize it or not, programs are everywhere around us, and almost everyone uses them. That’s why so many people learn programming languages, and if you ask them why they should learn a programming language, they’ll most likely cite the ability to create their own programs. But more importantly, it can help you develop problem-solving skills. The reason programs are so widely used is that programming languages are the most effective way to express your logic. The process of creating a program is not just a mechanical placement of code or a list of commands; it’s a constant process of thinking and refining your ideas. It is the ability to think, not just memorize code, but to formulate the logic for implementing a program, that gives us the perfect tool: a programming language. So why not take an interest in programming languages to expand your thinking and give them a try? If you keep thinking about it, programming languages will become a real “language” for you to express your creativity, rather than a difficult and complex alien language.