Distinguish among the different generations of programming languages
Generations of Programming Languages
The first generation languages, or 1GL are low-level languages that are essentially written with machine language code. Machine language code comprises binary code, that is, a series of zeros and ones (0,1).
The first generation languages, or 1GL are low-level languages that are essentially written with machine language code. Machine language code comprises binary code, that is, a series of zeros and ones (0,1).
The second generation languages, or 2GL are also low-level languages that consist of assembly language.
Assembly language uses structured commands in place of binary numbers allowing us to read the code easier than looking at binary code. Although assembly language is easier to read than binary code, it is still a difficult language to understand.
The third generation languages, or 3GL are high-level languages such as Pascal, C, and BASIC. Remember that a high-level language is not limited by the computer, so the same program can be executed on different computers. High-level languages are also easier to understand since their code uses some English-type words.
Language Example: Pascal
program Hello;
begin
Write('Hello world');
end.
BASIC
10 print "Hello World!"
20 END
C #
include <stdio.h>
main()
{ printf ("Hello World!\n");
}
The fourth generation languages, or 4GL are languages that also consist of English-type statements. Fourth generation languages are commonly used in database programming and scripts.
Typical examples of code used in 4GLs are:
FIND ALL RECORDS WHERE NAME IS "NOTESMASTER"
and
SELECT * FROM Book WHERE price > 80.00 ORDER BY title;
The fifth generation languages, or 5GL are programming languages that contain visual tools to help develop a program. A good example of a fifth generation language is Visual Basic, which was used to create the following form:
sources
http://caribbean.notesmaster.com/notes/syllabus/viewer/9053-generations-of-programming-languages