Programming Languages

Low-level Languages
High-level Languages
Advantages & Disadvantages
Translators
Trends in Programming Languages
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 Introduction
u program
– a series of instructions make a computer
‘works’
– can be written in a variety of programming
languages
u programming lang. - later generations:
– fewer instructions
– provide a more sophisticated
programmer/computer interaction
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 Fourth
Fourth
4th generation
generation
gen. languages
languages
(4GLs)
(4GLs) High-level
languages
are
Procedural languages problem More
oriented sophistication
3rd Multipurpose
Multipurpose Business
Business Scientific
Scientific in programmer/
gen. BASIC
BASIC(1965)
(1965) COBOL
COBOL(1959)
(1959) FORTRAN
FORTRAN(1955)
(1955) computer
Pascal (1968)
Pascal (1968) interaction

2nd Low-level
Assembler
Assembler
gen. languages
are
1st Machine machine
Machine
gen. oriented

The hierarchy of programming languages 3

 Low-level Languages
u Machine language
– a programming language that is interpreted &
executed directly by the computer

u Assembly language
– a symbolic language with an instruction set that
is basically one-to-one with the machine
language
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Machine language (ML)
u each computer can only understand
programs that are written in its own ML
u is provided by the computer manufacturer
u translation is needed when executing
programs written in Pascal or BASIC
u written at the most basic level of computer
operation
– coded as a series of 0’s and 1’s, e.g., 10111010
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Machine language (ML)

u Disadvantages:
– very difficult to write, because:
• binary system - not ‘user friendly’ to human
• it requires excellent memorising power
– programmer has to keep track of storage
locations of data & instruction

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
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Assembly language

u also provided by the manufacturer

u one instruction for each computer operation
u instruction codes are represented by
mnemonics (a set of letters)
u the code must be assembled into machine
language for execution
assembly language
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[refer to Fig 13.2]
Assembly language

u Disadvantages: (similar to that of ML)

– machine dependent
– the program is usually long
– hard to learn & slow to write

HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGES

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 High-level Languages
u made programming much more convenient
u written using common names & words
more like human languages
u problem-oriented languages
– designed to solve specific problems
u e.g.,
FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, Pascal
& C language
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[refer to Fig 13.4 - 13.8]
Advantages of
High-level Languages
u easier to write, to read & to modify
– written in English-like format
u programs - faster & shorter to code
– one statement for several computer operations
u more portable, i.e., can be executed by
different computers
– machine independent
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Advantages of
Low-level Languages
u take up less storage space
u run faster
u useful for writing system programs
– e.g., operating systems (require fast & efficient
use of CPU)
u sometimes an operation can only be
performed in a low-level language
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 Translators
u programsmust be translated into machine
codes before execution

Source
Source Object
Object
Translator
Translator Execution
program
program program
program

A simplified translation process

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 Translators - 3 types
Source
Sourceprogram
program Translator
Translator Object
Objectprogram
program
assembly
assembly
language
language assembler
assembler
programs
programs machine
machine
codes
codes
compiler
compiler
high-level
high-level
language
language
programs
programs
interpreter
interpreter Execution
Execution

The functions of the three types of translators 13

Similarities between
compilers & interpreters
u both
translate high-level languages to
machine codes
u bothdirect errors in the programs & print
error messages
u bothwork out where to store the object
program & its data in the memory
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Differences between
compilers & interpreters
Compilers Interpreters
Translation of the whole program one line at a time
source program before execution when it is run
Freqrency of each line is translated has to be translated
translation once every time it is
executed - slower
Object program can be saved for no object program is
future exeution generated, so, source
without the source program must be
program present for execution
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Trends in
Programming Languages
u fewerinstructions
u more user-friendly
u towards using 4GLs
– non-procedural language
– users only have to state what needs doing, but
not how to do it
– designed for users with minimal programming
knowledge & training
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Trends in
Programming Languages
u Logic programming (e.g., Prolog)
– 5th-generation computer language
– declarative language
– expert systems & artificial intelligence app.
u Object-oriented techniques
– e.g., Borland C++
u Visual development environments
– e.g., Microsoft Visual Basic
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