A computer language is a
formal language
In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language is a set of strings whose symbols are taken from a set called "alphabet".
The alphabet of a formal language consists of symbols that concatenate into strings (also c ...
used to communicate with a
computer
A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...
. Types of computer languages include:
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Construction language – all forms of communication by which a human can
specify an executable problem solution to a computer
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Command language – a language used to control the tasks of the computer itself, such as starting programs
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Configuration language – a language used to write
configuration files
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Programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs.
Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...
– a formal language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer
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Scripting language
In computing, a script is a relatively short and simple set of instructions that typically automation, automate an otherwise manual process. The act of writing a script is called scripting. A scripting language or script language is a programming ...
– a type of programming language which typically is interpreted at runtime rather than being compiled
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Query language – a language used to make
queries in
databases
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and ana ...
and
information systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems comprise four components: task, people, structu ...
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Transformation language – designed to transform some input text in a certain formal language into a modified output text that meets some specific goal
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Data exchange language – a language that is domain-independent and can be used for data from any kind of discipline; examples:
JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced or ) is an open standard file format and electronic data interchange, data interchange format that uses Human-readable medium and data, human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consi ...
,
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...
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Markup language
A markup language is a Encoding, text-encoding system which specifies the structure and formatting of a document and potentially the relationships among its parts. Markup can control the display of a document or enrich its content to facilitate au ...
– a grammar for annotating a document in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from the text, such as
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...
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Modeling language
A modeling language is any artificial language that can be used to express data, information or knowledge or systems in a structure that is defined by a consistent set of rules. The rules are used for interpretation of the meaning of components in ...
– an artificial language used to express information or knowledge, often for use in computer system design
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Architecture description language – used as a language (or a conceptual model) to describe and represent system architectures
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Hardware description language
In computer engineering, a hardware description language (HDL) is a specialized computer language used to describe the structure and behavior of electronic circuits, usually to design application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and to progra ...
– used to model
integrated circuits
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Page description language – describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output
bitmap
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Simulation language – a language used to describe
simulations
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Specification language – a language used to describe what a system should do
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Style sheet language – a computer language that expresses the presentation of structured documents, such as
CSS
See also
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Serialization
In computing, serialization (or serialisation, also referred to as pickling in Python (programming language), Python) is the process of translating a data structure or object (computer science), object state into a format that can be stored (e. ...
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Domain-specific language – a language specialized to a particular application domain
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Expression language
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General-purpose language
A general-purpose language is a computer language that is broadly applicable across Domain (software engineering), application domains, and lacks specialized features for a particular domain. This is in contrast to a domain-specific language (DSL), ...
– a language that is broadly applicable across application domains and lacks specialized features for a particular domain
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Lists of programming languages
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Natural language processing
Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of computer science and especially artificial intelligence. It is primarily concerned with providing computers with the ability to process data encoded in natural language and is thus closely related ...
– the use of computers to process text or speech in human language
External links
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{{Computer language