Computer language: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 02:01, 18 December 2025

Template:Short description 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
- Architecture description – for describing and representing system architecture
- Hardware description – for modeling integrated circuits
Simulation – for simulating
Specification – for describing what a system should do

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 {{Short description|Formal language for communicating with a computer}}
-A '''computer language''' is a [[formal language]] for humans to [[communication|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:
+A '''computer language''' is a [[formal language]] for humans to [[communication|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:
 * [[software construction|Construction]]