A programming language is the communication bridge between a programmer and computer. A programming language allows a programmer to create sets of executable instructions, or a program, that the computer can understand. This communication bridge is needed because computers process (or "understand") only machine language, which is an instruction language in which data are represented by binary digits ("bits"). For example, the binary digits 1000 represent the instruction ADD.

Writing instructions in machine language is a long, tedious process; for this reason it is prone to errors. Additionally, humans speaking natural languages (e.g., English) may find it very difficult to grasp, understand, and use machine language. Programming languages represent a middle ground between the binary machine language computers understand and our own natural languages.

A programming language assists a programmer in using a computer to solve a problem. Computers solve problems by storing...