Programming Language and Software
Peter Haine, Ernest Haidon · 1978
All communication relies on the existence or the design of a ‘language’. The language could have been evolved over generations, as in the case of natural languages; could have been designed for communicating specific ideas, as say in the case of mathematics, or could be devised for a very special mode of communication. Computer languages fall in this last class. Their purpose is to provide a medium for the communication of instructions to be executed by a machine the computer. In this chapter we look at the basic structures and requirements of programming languages and also at the levels and forms in which these languages are available. No attempt is made here to study any language in sufficient detail to achieve competence in its use.