high-level language

American  

noun

Computers.

1. a problem-oriented programming language, as COBOL, FORTRAN, or PL/1, that uses English-like statements and symbols to create sequences of computer instructions and identify memory locations, rather than the machine-specific individual instruction codes and numerical addresses employed by machine language.

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high-level language British  

noun

1. a computer programming language that resembles natural language or mathematical notation and is designed to reflect the requirements of a problem; examples include Ada, BASIC, C, COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal See also machine code

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Etymology

Origin of high-level language

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Ruby is a high-level language that reads like English and was designed with the intention of making programming fun and accessible — and allows you to build something from scratch using less code.

From Salon

Compilers are software programs that translate an algorithm written in a high-level language into machine language instructions that can be executed step by step on particular hardware.

From Nature

OpenCL is the oldest attempt at creating a high-level language for alternative processing platforms.

From Forbes

It has most of the core features I think are crucial for a modern high-level language:

From Forbes

A full compiler—a translator into machine language—is a rather complex project, but translating into a high-level language that is very similar to CPL is much easier.

From Scientific American