Programming language: Difference between revisions

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[[File:C Hello World Program.png|thumb|right|upright=1.3|The [[source code]] for a computer program in [[C (programming language)|C]]. The gray lines are [[comment (computer programming)|comments]] that explain the program to humans. When [[compiled]] and [[Execution (computing)|run]], it will give the output "[["Hello, World!" program|Hello, world!]]".]]

A '''programming language''' is a system of notation for writing [[source code]] such as used to produce a [[computer program]].<ref name="Aaby 2004">{{cite book |last=Aaby |first=Anthony |url=http://www.emu.edu.tr/aelci/Courses/D-318/D-318-Files/plbook/intro.htm |title=Introduction to Programming Languages |year=2004 |access-date=29 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108043216/http://www.emu.edu.tr/aelci/Courses/D-318/D-318-Files/plbook/intro.htm |archive-date=8 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A language allows a programmer to a [[Software development|develop]] [[Human-readable|human readable]] artifactscontent that can be consumed by a computer but only after translation via an automated process that enables source code to be [[Execution (computing)|executable]]. Historically, a [[compiler]] translates source code into [[machine code]] that is directly runnable by a computer, and an [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] executes source code without converting to machine code. Today, hybrid technologies exist such as compiling to an intermediate form (such as [[bytecode]]) which is later interpreted or [[Just-in-time compilation|just-in-time compiled]] to machine code before running.

[[Computer architecture]] has strongly influenced the design of programming languages, with the most common type ([[imperative languages]]) developed to perform well on the popular [[von Neumann architecture]]. While early programming languages were closely tied to the [[Computer hardware|hardware]], modern languages hide hardware details via [[abstraction (computer science)|abstraction]] in an effort to enable better software with less effort.