High-level languages
The A single action that can be performed by a computer processor. that tell a computer what to do are written in Low-level language that is directly understood by the CPU. It is represented by binary numbers.. Machine code is a series of numbers written in A number system that contains two symbols, 0 and 1. Also known as base 2.. Each number represents a different instruction.
Programmers find machine code difficult to learn, program in and The process of finding and correcting programming errors. . As a result, the majority of programmers write Sequences of instructions for a computer. in Also known as high-level language. This is a computer programming language used to write programs. High-level languages need to be translated into machine code through a compiler, interpreter or assembler.. These languages are close to natural language - the spoken and written language of humans. For example, A high-level programming language. uses 'print', ‘if’, 'input' and 'while' The smallest element of a programming language which expresses an action to be carried out. - all words from the English language - to form instructions. In fact, instructions often look like abbreviated English sentences.
Compare this simple Python program with its comments that are written in English:
while count < 10:
#While the value of count is less than ten number = int(input("Type in a number")) #Input a number total = total + number #Add the number to the total count = count + 1 #Add one to the value of count print("The total is ", total) #Print out the totalProgrammers write in high-level languages because they are easier to understand and are less complex than machine code. They allow the programmer to focus on what needs to be done, rather than on how the computer actually works.
For example, in many high-level languages, to place a message on the screen, a programmer would use the statement 'print'. The programmer might not know how the computer actually generates the message. They just need to know how to use the 'print' statement.
Commonly used high-level languages
Many types of high-level language exist and are in common use today, including:
- Python
- Java
- C++
- C#
- Visual Basic
- JavaScript
Source code
The code behind a computer program, written in a programming language. is the term given to a set of instructions that are written in human readable programming language. Source code must be translated into machine code before a computer can understand and execute it.
