programming language

American  

[proh-gram-ing lang-gwij] / ˈproʊ græm ɪŋ ˌlæŋ gwɪdʒ /

noun

1. a high-level language used to write computer programs, as C++ or Python, or, sometimes, an assembly language.

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programming language British  

noun

1. a simple language system designed to facilitate the writing of computer programs See high-level language low-level language machine code

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programming language Scientific  

/ prō′grăm′ĭng /

1. An artificial language used to write instructions that can be translated into machine language and then executed by a computer. English and other natural languages are not used as programming languages because they cannot be easily translated into machine language.

2. ◆ A compiled language is a language in which the set of instructions (or code) written by the programmer is converted into machine language by special software called a compiler prior to being executed. C++ and SmallTalk are examples of compiled languages.

3. ◆ An interpreted language is a language in which the set of instructions (or code) written by the programmer is converted into machine language by special software called a compiler prior to being executed. Most scripting and macro languages are interpreted languages.

4. See also program

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programming language Cultural  

1. In computer technology, a set of conventions in which instructions for the machine are written. There are many languages that allow humans to communicate with computers; C++, BASIC, and Java are some common ones.

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Etymology

Origin of programming language

First recorded in 1955–60

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

programming language

The weaknesses found in the PHP programming language, which is used by millions of websites, had been quietly resting there for years and are not easy to exploit.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Created in the early 1990s, PHP is a computer programming language that helps run an estimated 70 percent of the world's websites.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

Organisations and businesses are still scrambling to update their systems after cyber-security flaws were revealed in a widely-used programming language, PHP.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

IBM suffered its worst day in 25 years, compounded by Anthropic’s announcement that its Claude AI could modernize COBOL, the programming language holding IBM’s mainframe empire together.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 19, 2026

Over the next year, Tiemann began playing around with the source code, creating a native compiler for the C+ programming language.

From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams

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