Computers have evolved over the last eighty years from room-sized giants to pocket-sized, immensely powerful devices. However, to make any of this happen, the information encoded within those bits and bytes has to be written down in some way. This is where programming languages come in.
Almost everyone is familiar with at least some coding lingo due to the prevalence of computers in our daily lives. Still, not everyone knows the differences between the multitude of programming languages that are out there. For example, one language often taught to elementary and middle schoolers is Scratch. This language creates programs via the user chaining together blocks that do different things when certain events occur. An example of a different, more professional language is Python. Python is a widely used language that allows for pretty much anything to be made, and it’s still relatively simple compared to some other languages. Many games are written in Python, and it’s commonly the first language a serious developer will learn.
Let’s get some definitions out of the way. A low-level programming language interacts almost directly with the instructions given to the computer. Take the C language, for example, which is used to write operating systems like Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and also controls the behavior of household appliances like microwaves. C assumes that the programmer knows what they’re doing and grants them complete control of what the program does at the hardware level. It’s the next step up from an Assembly language, a human-readable version of the ones and zeroes a computer can process. Programming in Assembly is rarely recommended; however, given the amount of time it takes to do things, even a language like C can do it easily.
On the flip side, a high-level language combines many low-level instructions into a single line of code, therefore allowing you to do complex things more easily but at the expense of having slightly less control. These languages are used to write games, websites, and applications since they require a large amount of complex processes. Of course, you could write any of these things in a low-level language, but it may be a waste of time because high-level languages have helpful features built into them. Python, discussed earlier, is a high-level language due to its many premade functions. These allow a lot to be done with little effort, but it’s at the cost of performance due to the Python code having to be translated into C with a program.
High-level and low-level programming languages both have their own use cases, and there are many, many ways to use them. Together, these languages control everything our computers, games, and apps do. It’s always important to have an understanding of modern utilities and their capabilities.
