Programming Language Generations

What is a Programming Language?

"A programming language is a set of written symbols that instructs the computer hardware to perform specific tasks. Typically, a programming language consists of a vocabulary and a set of rules (called syntax) that the programmer must learn"

1st Generation of programming languages :

Machine language is the only programming language that the computer can understand directly without translation. It is a language made up of entirely 1s and 0s. There is not, however, one universal machine language because the language must be written in accordance with the special characteristics of a given processor. Each type or family of processor requires its own machine language. For this reason, machine language is said to be machine-dependent (also called hardware-dependent).

Low level language
1s and 0s
Complex and long-winded for programming
High level of developer control

Ultimately everything is translated into machine language

2nd Generation of programming languages :

Assembly language uses symbolic addressing capabilities that simplify the programming process because the programmer does not need to know or remember the exact storage locations of instructions or data. Symbolic addressing is the ability to express an address in terms of symbols chosen by the programmer rather than in terms of the absolute numerical location. Therefore, it is not necessary to assign and remember a number that identifies the address of a piece of data.

Low level language.
Shortened instructions.
Needs thousands of instructions to perform one useful task.
Assembler program is needed to translate.

3rd Generation of programming languages :

Third generation languages, also known as high-level languages, are very much like everyday text and mathematical formulas in appearance. They are designed to run on a number of different computers with few or no changes.

High level language
Must have some form of translation.
Usually written for a specific area of use:

COBOL – business language
BASIC – beginning programmer’s instruction code
FORTRAN – scientists and engineers

4. Structured and sequential – logical sequence

3 control structures

A language translator is required to convert a high-level language program into machine language. Two types of language translators are used with high level languages: compilers and interpreters.

4th Generation of programming languages :

Fourth generation languages are also known as very high level languages. They are non-procedural languages, so named because they allow programmers and users to specify what the computer is supposed to do without having to specify how the computer is supposed to do it. Consequently, fourth generation languages need approximately one tenth the number of statements that a high level languages needs to achieve the same results. Because they are so much easier to use than third generation languages, fourth generation languages allow users, or non-computer professionals, to develop software.

High level language.
Object oriented languages organise coding around objects.
Specific characteristics: inheritance, polymorphism, classes etc…
Event driven – the event triggers the outcome (eg: a click event).
Non-procedural
Examples: VB.NET, C++

5th Generation of programming languages :

Natural Languages represent the next step in the development of programming languages, i-e fifth generation languages. The text of a natural language statement very closely resembles human speech. In fact, one could word a statement in several ways perhaps even misspelling some words or changing the order of the words and get the same result. These languages are also designed to make the computer “smarter”. Natural languages already available for microcomputers include Clout, Q&A, and Savvy Retriever (for use with databases) and HAL (Human Access Language).

The use of natural language touches on expert systems, computerized collection of the knowledge of many human experts in a given field, and artificial intelligence, independently smart computer systems.

High level language.
Associated with Artificial Intelligence.
Uses knowledge bases and expert systems.
Less programmer control.
Example: Prolog

References-

1. http://javaseeeedu.blogspot.my/2015/07/hi-all-this-is-my-second-post-on-java.html

2. http://www.assemblylanguagetuts.com/mips-assembly-programming-tutorials/

3. https://latesthackingnews.com/2014/11/06/java-differs-c-c/

4. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/sql-server-stretch-database/

5. https://align-alytics.com/is-outsourcing-the-5th-generation-programming-language/

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