What is a programming language? [duplicate]

Answer 1

A programming language is a way to express computations

• Precisely
• At at high level
• In a way we can reason about them

Answer 2

I think, Wikipedia has got this one very right:

A programming language is an artificial language designed to express computations
that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer.

The first sentence is enough to describe what it is:

• it is an artificial language (that is the root of it)
• it is designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine (that is the target/purpose of the language)

This is what a programming language is in its most general definition.

Your definition lacks this generality (for example your sentences fit rather good for command oriented languages, but not for e.g. logical programming).

Answer 3

Well, to be honest, i'd go with this definition:

A programming language is a language, that allows programming a machine.

This is the only thing, that all programming languages have in common.

Some are compiled, some interpreted, some follow formal syntax rules, some don't (for example rail ... no chance to put that into EBNF or whatever), some are human readable, some aren't (brainfuck) ... i do agree, that currently they are all moreless formal, but that's due to technical problems ... there is no other reason why all programming languages are formal, except the fact, that understanding real human language is currently too difficult (note: i'm not saying that no language would be formal, if processing human language was feasible to sufficient extents) ...

Answer 4

1. A tongue-in-cheek reply: well I may not be able to define it, but I know it when I see it.

2. If one has some sort of machine, that can be controlled by information that can be recorded in some time-persistent medium, where there has to be some kind of rules expressing what can be recorded, that set of rules could be called a programming language.

If the machine being controlled happens to be universal (in the Turing sense) then it's what we would typically call a computer, but simpler machines can also be programmed. I'm thinking of the Jacquard loom, or various controllable machine tools.

Answer 5

A programming language is a set of symbols, defined by a formal grammar, that can be translated by a program to another set of symbols that a computer understand, to make this last to perform some desired actions.

Answer 6

A programming language is a formal language containing rules for syntax and semantics. These rules describe a way to express a program - a collection of computations - such that it may be converted to something that can be executed by a machine.