Tour the World of High-Level Programming Languages

Definition

According to Techopedia, “A high-level language (HLL) is a kind of programming language that aims to make computer programming easier to understand and more user-friendly for people.”

High-level languages are designed to make writing and reading codes easy for humans, both in terms of syntax and semantics. Syntax refers to the collection of guidelines defining the symbol combinations deemed appropriate for properly designed programs. Semantics are the meaning of the symbols.

This approach allows developers time and energy to focus on solving problems rather than wrestling with the intricacies of computer architecture.

Characteristics

While low-level programming languages are machine-friendly, high programming languages are human-friendly. The following cardinal characteristics illustrate this:

Abstraction from Machine Language

Since high-level languages are human-friendly, one of their most important features is relieving users of the burden of understanding machine language complexities. This enables developers to focus on the programming logic instead of memory management or CPU instructions, for example, to boost productivity and efficiency.

Human-Readable Syntax

High-level languages are defined by syntax that resembles natural human language, meaning the structures are intuitive and easy to understand. Let’s take the “print” command in Python; it is similar to a command in plain language, making the programming process easier.

Problem-Oriented Design

While low-level languages are made to fit hardware configurations, high-level languages are concentrated on solving problems and working with computational tasks. Each line of code that makes up the high-level language is made to carry out various tasks, which aims to make the development process simple and productive.

Translation to Machine Code

Simply put, machine codes are numerical instructions (consisting of 0s and 1s) given to a computer. However, since machine codes are extremely tedious and error-prone, in the low-level programming language world, we have assembly language - human-readable representation that uses symbolic names to represent these instructions. Even though it is easier to understand than raw machine code, assembly language is still quite difficult to work with.

Therefore, compilation is added to high-level programming languages. Compilation is the procedural step that converts high-level code into machine code before execution. This translation guarantees that the source code is converted from a human-readable format into computer-processable instructions.

Use Cases

High-level programming languages are not only popular but also have a wide range of use cases, including:

• Web Development: HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are programming languages that developers can easily use to develop dynamic and impressive websites.
• Data Analysis: To conduct effective data analysis, one needs to have the ability to manipulate data efficiently. This is where programming languages like R, SQL, and Python come in handy, as they offer powerful data manipulation capabilities to help you make sense of your data and draw meaningful insights.
• Database Management System: To manage, store, retrieve, and manipulate data efficiently, a database management system is needed. With high-level commands in SQL (Structured Query Language), users can query, update, and manipulate data as needed.

Pros

• The first and most important advantage of high-level languages is their similarity to natural language. They are easy to understand, learn, write, remember, and debug.
• Users are distanced from the complex hardware.
• Developers can run high-level languages on different platforms without the need for modification. This makes high-level programming portable.
• High-level programming languages have a variety of supportive tools, libraries, and frameworks to make the coding process even faster and easier.
• Errors are easy to debug and troubleshoot.
• Coding productivity is boosted significantly.

Cons

• It takes time to transform the source code into machine code. Hence, compared to low-level languages, high-level programs are less memory efficient and slower.
• Developers don’t have control or the ability to directly communicate with the hardware.
• In terms of memory utilization or maximum hardware utilization, low-level languages are still the best choice.

Python

• Popular with a large community and support modules.
• It is the third most-used programming language in 2023. (Statista)
• It is well-known for its readability and versatility.
• Utilized by large organizations like YouTube, Quora, and Instagram.

Java

• Popular for its Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA) capabilities.
• Purely object-oriented programming language.
• It is widely utilized for web development and big data.
• Clean and readable syntax.
• Companies like Google or Amazon use Java.

C++/C

• High efficiency and control over hardware resources.
• Ranked highly in programming language indexes.
• Often used for game development and GUI (graphical user interface) applications.
• Microsoft, Adobe, and Electronic Arts (EA) are using the language.

JavaScript

• The most-used programming language used, according to a Stack Overflow survey in 2023.
• Backbone in web development
• Versatile use thanks to its popular front-end frameworks like React and Vue.js
• Popular for its ability to bring web apps to life and create dynamic user experiences.
• Facebook, Uber, Netflix, and more giants are using JavaScript.

PHP

• Well-known for its simplicity and versatility.
• A wide range of applications, from e-commerce platform development to server-side scripting.
• 21.6% of known websites utilize PHP version 8 for server-side programming.
• WordPress, Etsy, and Slack are known to use PHP.