Computer language

A computer language is a formal language for humans to communicate with a computer; not a natural language. In earlier days of computing (before the 1980s), the term was used interchangeably with programming language, but today, used primarily for taxonomy, is a broader term that encompasses languages that are not programming in nature. Sub-categories (with possibly contended hierarchical relationships) include:

  • Construction
    • Programming – for controlling computer behavior
      • Command – for controlling the tasks of a computer, such as starting programs
      • Query – for querying databases and information systems
      • Transformation – for transforming the text of a formal language into text that meets a specific goal
    • Structural
      • Configuration – for writing configuration files
      • Data exchange – examples: JSON, XML
      • Markup – for annotating a document in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from the text, such as HTML
      • Page description – for describing the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap
      • Style sheet – for expressing the presentation of structured documents, such as CSS
  • Modeling – for designing systems
  • Simulation – for simulating
  • Specification – for describing what a system should do

See also

  • Media related to Computer languages at Wikimedia Commons