Evolution of Programming Languages

All programming languages developed from the inception can be classified into four classes based on the nature of their commands.

1' First Generation Programming Languages
(Machine Languages)

2' Second Generation Programming Languages
(Assembly Languages)

3' Third Generation Programming Languages
(High Level Languages)

4' Fourth Generation Programming Languages
(Artificial Languages)

One of the key features apparent in the evolution of programming languages is that the programming languages have become easily understandable and usable over the years.

First Generation Programming Languages
All machine languages fall into this category.
Common Properties of these languages:

•  All commands are based on the binary code symbols 0 and 1.
• Coding programs and programming computers are extremely difficult.
• Depend on the machine type. Therefore, a program coded for one processor type may not run on a machine with a different processor type.
• Programmer should have a comprehensive knowledge about the hardware of the intended computer system.

Second Generation Programming Languages
These languages were developed primarily to alleviate the problem of using
only the binary symbols 0 and 1 to develop programs.
Common Properties of these languages:

•  Commands are represented by symbolic names such as ‘ADD’,SUB’.
•  Ability to use symbolic names to store data at memory locations and to retrieve data from memory by using these symbolic names.
• Ability to debug programs easier than programs in machine code.
•  Depend on the machine type.
• Need for Programmer to have comprehensive knowledge of hardware of the intended computer system.

Programs written in Assembly Languages cannot be executed directly on the computer as Assembly Languages are not understood by the processors. Instead, such programs have to be transformed into the machine language of the intended computer using appropriate language translation software. Such language translation software that translate programs written in Assembly Languages to Machine Language are called ‘Assemblers’.

Third Generation Programming Languages
Programming languages such as C and VB belong to this type.
Common Properties of these languages:

•  Based on languages close to humans such as English .
•  Do not depend on the machine.
•  Programs can be developed and debugged easily.

Like the Assembly languages, these languages also cannot be directly understood by the machines. Therefore to execute programs written in these languages they have to be translated into machine code using
appropriate language translation software.

Fourth Generation Programming Languages
Fourth Generation Programming Languages provide Visual Environment
making it easy for the user to write computer programs.
Common Properties of these languages:

• Close to human languages such as English.
•  Ability to learn the languages within a short period.
•  Ability to accomplish a task by using a smaller number of commands relative to Third Generation Programming Languages.