Explore Programming Languages on Experts Exchange

A programming language is a formal constructed language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Thousands of different programming languages have been created, mainly in the computer field, and many more still are being created every year. The description of a programming language is usually split into the two components of syntax (form) and semantics (meaning). Some languages are defined by a specification document (for example, the C programming language is specified by an ISO Standard), while other languages (such as Perl) have a dominant implementation that is treated as a reference. Some languages have both, with the basic language defined by a standard and extensions taken from the dominant implementation being common.