Computer language

{{Short description|Formal language for communicating with a computer}} A '''computer language''' is a formal language for humans to communicate with a computer, not a natural language. In earlier days of computing (before the 1980s), the term was used interchangeably with programming language, but today, used primarily for taxonomy, is a broader term that encompasses languages that are not programming in nature. Sub-categories (with possibly contended hierarchical relationships) include:

* Construction ** Programming – for controlling computer behavior *** Command – for controlling the tasks of a computer, such as starting programs *** Query – for querying databases and information systems *** Transformation – for transforming the text of a formal language into text that meets a specific goal ** Structural *** Configuration – for writing configuration files *** Data exchange – examples: JSON, XML *** Markup – for annotating a document in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from the text, such as HTML *** Page description – for describing the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap *** Style sheet – for expressing the presentation of structured documents, such as CSS * Modeling – for designing systems ** Architecture description – for describing and representing system architecture ** Hardware description – for modeling integrated circuits * Simulation – for simulating * Specification – for describing what a system should do

==See also== * {{Annotated link|Domain-specific language}} * {{Annotated link|Expression language}} * {{Annotated link|General-purpose language}} * {{Annotated link|Lists of programming languages}} * {{Annotated link|Natural language processing}}

==External links== *{{Commonscatinline|Computer languages}}

Category:Computer languages