Programming languages

High level programming languages are languages with strong abstraction from the details of the computer and allow a programmer to write the programs which are independent of a particular type of computers hence types of programming languages are portable . They are user friendly languages written in human readable language like English. Their advantages are that they are easier to read, write, and maintain. Programs written in high-level language must be translated into machine language by an interpreter or a compiler. Examples of high-level languages include Java, C++, Python, JavaScript, and PHP.

Java

Java programming language was developed by James Gosling Sun Microsystem and was released in May 1995 as a core component of the company. It initially was designed for small, embedded systems in electronic appliances like set-top boxes. Its first name was ‘Greentalk’, after which it was named Oak and was developed as a part of the green project. In 1995, it was renamed from Oak to Java because it had already become a trademark by Oak Technologies. Java is a hybrid programming language which can be considered as both compiled and an interpreted language because its source code is first compiled into a binary byte-code using a java compiler and then this byte code runs on Java Virtual Machine which is a software-based interpreter. Java uses multiple-paradigms generic, object-oriented, functional, imperative, reflective and concurrent but the mostly used in the modern java are object oriented and the functional paradigms. Examples of digital products created with java include Uber, Netflix, Opera mini and ThinkFree Office

JavaScript

JavaScript was invented in 1995 at Netscape communication Corporation. It was developed for Netscape 2 Navigator and it quickly became known as LiveScript. The reason for its development was to fill the need for a “glue language” used by informal programmers and designers. This allowed programmers to use JavaScript to put together components and automate interactions. JavaScript is an interpreted language as it interprets each source code one by one. It is also a multi-paradigm scripting language that supports imperative, functional or object-oriented programming styles. It is best known as the scripting language for web page but used in many non-browser environments. Some famous websites built by the use of JavaScript are Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn Amazon, eBay, and Twitter.

Python

Python was invented in 1991 by Guido van Rossum  at CWI in Netherland as a successor to the ABC programming language, which was inspired by SETL, capable of exception handling and interfacing with the Amoeba operating system. It was mainly developed to emphases on code readability, and its syntax allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code. Python is an interpreted programming language which means the source code of a Python program is converted into bytecode that is then executed by the Python virtual machine. Python programming language supports four main programming paradigms which are imperative, functional, procedural, and object-oriented paradigms. Some of the examples of digital products where python has been used include Spotify, Netflix, Uber, Dropbox and Pinterest.

            PHP

PHP as it is called today is a scripting programming language that was a successor to a product named PHP/FI that was Created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorfm. It was intended to facilitate the creation of dynamic web pages and it later became open-source software with a BSD-style license. The ability to work with various types of web servers and database engines contributed to the development of this technology and its popularity. Basically, PHP is an interpreted language but it is compiled down to an intermediate bytecode that is then interpreted by the runtime Zend engine (Srinath,2017). It is a multi-paradigm language that supports imperative, functional, object oriented, reflective and procedural programs.

C++

C++ is an object-oriented programming language which was developed as an enhancement   to C programming language. C++ is a special-purpose programming language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1980 at Bell Labs circa. It is very similar to C language, and it is so compatible with C hence it can run 99% of C programs without changing any source of code. Earlier it was called “C with Objects” but as the language continued to develop and Stroustrup named it as C++ in 1983. C++ is however an object-oriented programming language, so it is safer and well-structured programming language than C. It is a compiled programming language programming language that supports object-oriented, procedural and generic programming. Some of the digital products created with C++ include operating systems, bank applications, game programming, software engineering, data structures, developing browsers

 

References

Srinath, K. R. (2017). Python–the fastest growing programming language. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4(12), 354-357.