{"id":501494,"date":"2022-10-16T18:00:43","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T15:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-is-a-programming-language\/"},"modified":"2022-10-16T18:00:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T15:00:43","slug":"what-is-a-programming-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/","title":{"rendered":"#What Is a Programming Language?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af0f79df1449\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af0f79df1449\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#%E2%80%9CWhat_Is_a_Programming_Language%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;What Is a Programming Language?&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#What_Are_Programming_Languages\" >What Are Programming Languages?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#Levels_of_Language\" >Levels of Language<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#Interpreted_Speech\" >Interpreted Speech<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#How_Programming_Languages_Work\" >How Programming Languages Work<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#Making_Do\" >Making Do<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-programming-language\/#Which_Programming_Language_Should_You_Learn\" >Which Programming Language Should You Learn?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWhat_Is_a_Programming_Language%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;What Is a Programming Language?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-840028\" data-pagespeed-no-defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/shutterstock_577183882.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Closeup of a computer screen showing lines of programming language.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/software-developer-programming-code-abstract-computer-577183882\">Vintage Tone\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A programming language is a language people use when developing software to tell a computer what to do. They come in many forms, but most programming languages rely on an interpreter that translates the human-readable language into binary so that the computer can put the instructions into action.<\/p>\n<p>At the foundation of computers and their programs are programming languages, the weird-looking lines of code that likely make your head hurt just by looking at them. But what are programming languages, and how do they work?<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Are_Programming_Languages\"><\/span>What Are Programming Languages?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In short, a programming language is the way in which a computer programmer \u201ctalks\u201d to a device. If you know how to \u201cspeak\u201d one of these languages\u2014and there are hundreds\u2014you can create a program that can perform tasks. These can range from the very simple, like a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> that moves a file from one place to another, to the very complex, like rendering a 3D world in a video <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Programming languages are the reason we can do complex things with computers. At their core, computers are still operating on binary\u2014also called machine language\u2014a system where zeroes and ones determine what the computer does, and how. You can think of programming languages as a layer over this core, so humans don\u2019t need to toggle the zeroes into ones and back again.<\/p>\n<p>This is a very good thing: if we still had to use binary to program it would take a long time to create even a simple script. Advanced programs would likely never get made as getting all the ones and zeroes in the right palace would take an army of people. Programming languages, though tricky to learn and use, at their core are labor-saving devices.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Levels_of_Language\"><\/span>Levels of Language<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Roughly speaking, programming languages fall into two categories: low-level and high-level languages. Low-level languages are called that because they are \u201cclose\u201d to the machine, they can speak to it directly. This includes machine language and assembly languages, which are programming languages that are only a little removed from binary.<\/p>\n<p>High-level languages are a step above low-level languages. They\u2019re further away from the machine, but are readable by humans. \u201cReadable\u201d in this case means that if you know the language in question you can look at a few lines of code and figure out what\u2019s going on. This also works the other way around: you can type up commands which will then be executed by the machine.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Interpreted_Speech\"><\/span>Interpreted Speech<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>That said, it should be noted that programming isn\u2019t quite as direct as that. When typing up commands in a high-level language, you\u2019re not telling a device what to do. Instead, you\u2019re talking to a so-called interpreter, a program which is part of the language that turns a command into binary. You tell the interpreter what you want, and it in turn tells the computer what you said, but in machine language.<\/p>\n<p>The interpreter bridges the gap between you and the machine, and every language has a different interpreter. Assembly languages are a bit weird as their commands also need to be interpreted, but they use what\u2019s called an assembler instead of an interpreter as their commands are closer related to the \u201cpure\u201d machine language and thus don\u2019t need full translation.<\/p>\n<p>The interpreter is a finicky bit of tech: it needs to be spoken to in a certain way for it to do its job of telling the computer how to move zeroes and ones around. Instead of saying \u201cmake the blue box go to the top right,\u201d we have to enter a line of code that the interpreter understands, which varies by programming language. The interpreter then takes this input and tells the computer what to do.<\/p>\n<p>Since natural language is too hard to understand for computers and interpreters\u2014something that may change with the no-code revolution\u2014we use programming languages, languages that can be understood by interpreters and humans alike. The interpreter then relays it into machine language, creating a small daisy chain.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Programming_Languages_Work\"><\/span>How Programming Languages Work<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The choice for the word \u201clanguage\u201d wasn\u2019t made by accident, either: just like in human languages, programming languages have internal rules that keep it all from going off the rails.<\/p>\n<p>A programming language will have a syntax, a set of rules concerning word order and word use, just like in a human language. For example, in English you can say \u201cGary gave Fred a book.\u201d In this sentence, you know exactly who gave what and to whom; change the words around and you get a different sentence: \u201cFred gave Gary a book.\u201d That still makes sense, but if you say \u201ca book to Gary Fred gave\u201d we have a problem on our hands.<\/p>\n<p>Programming languages are no different: the right bits need to go into the right places for a sentence\u2014usually called a \u201cline\u201d\u2014to make sense. It\u2019s just that programming languages use different ways to express themselves.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Making_Do\"><\/span>Making Do<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Some stuff is the same: many programming languages will use verbs, for example. In Python, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly considered to be one of the easiest languages to learn, you can tell it to <code>print<\/code> a line of text.<\/p>\n<pre>print(\"Hello, world\")<\/pre>\n<p>In this case, the words \u201cHello, world\u201d will pop up on the screen. Naturally, commands can get a lot more complicated than that; most languages have a massive set of verbs that can be used to perform all manner of actions.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, not everything makes this much sense right at a glance: most of the code you\u2019ll come across has a crazy amount of symbols and punctuation marks you wouldn\u2019t use in daily speech. However, once you get your head around them, they\u2019re less weird than you think.<\/p>\n<p>In human language, we can use different words to denote different things. In English, for example, we denote objects with \u201cit\u201d and people with \u201cshe\u201d or \u201che.\u201d If you switch these around, a sentence would fall apart. Programming languages aren\u2019t much different: brackets and parentheses just denote different classes of action. Switch them around and the sentence falls apart.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, these things can also change across languages: a parenthesis in Python does something completely different than they do in Lisp, which is different again from C. Just like in human languages, use and meaning can shift, making some languages better at certain things than others.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_Programming_Language_Should_You_Learn\"><\/span>Which Programming Language Should You Learn?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So which language is the best to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewgeek.com\/38028\/learn-to-code-with-these-awesome-apps-and-websites\/\">start learning<\/a>? There is a lot\u2014and we do mean <i>a lot<\/i>\u2014of argument between fans of different languages about what each language can and cannot do and which is best. But the upshot is that which language is best really depends on the programmer in question. Just like with human languages, your opinion is affected by your thinking patterns and what naturally makes sense to you.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to be one of the few that can \u201ctalk\u201d to machines and make them do what you want, you could check out Python, which has a reputation for being easy to learn. If you want more of a challenge, you could check out C, which is the foundation for most operating systems. Whichever you choose to go with, it\u2019s a lot of fun to start thinking like a programmer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewgeek.com\/38028\/learn-to-code-with-these-awesome-apps-and-websites\/\"><strong><em>Learn to Code with These Awesome Apps and Websites<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/838826\/what-is-a-programming-language\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;What Is a Programming Language?&#8221; Vintage Tone\/Shutterstock.com A programming language is a language people use when developing software to tell a computer what to do. They come in many forms, but most programming languages rely on an interpreter that translates the human-readable language into binary so that the computer can put the instructions into action&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":501495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/shutterstock_577183882.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}