imported>Mindmatrix: revert to previous intro, though something that falls between these two would be preferred

2025-11-12T02:53:00Z

revert to previous intro, though something that falls between these two would be preferred

New page

{{Short description|Programming language that abstracts details of computing hardware}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}

A '''high-level programming language''' is a [[programming language]] with strong [[Abstraction (computer science)|abstraction]] from the details of the [[computer]]. In contrast to [[low-level programming language]]s, it may use [[natural language]] elements, be easier to use, or may automate (or even hide entirely) significant areas of computing systems (e.g. [[memory management]]), making the process of developing a program simpler and more understandable than when using a lower-level language. The amount of abstraction provided defines how "high-level" a programming language is.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826224349/http://www.ittc.ku.edu/hybridthreads/glossary/index.php |archive-date=2007-08-26 |url=http://www.ittc.ku.edu/hybridthreads/glossary/index.php |url-status=dead |title=HThreads - RD Glossary}}</ref>

''High-level'' refers to a level of abstraction from the hardware details of a [[CPU |processor]] inherent in [[machine code |machine]] and [[assembly language| assembly]] code. Rather than dealing with registers, memory addresses, and call stacks, high-level languages deal with variables, arrays, [[object (computer science)|object]]s, arithmetic and [[Boolean expression]]s, [[function (computing)|functions]], loops, [[Thread (computer science)|thread]]s, locks, and other computer science abstractions, intended to facilitate [[Correctness (computer science)|correctness]] and [[software maintenance |maintainability]]. Unlike low-level [[assembly language]]s, high-level languages have few, if any, language elements that translate directly to a machine's native [[opcode]]s. Other features, such as string handling, [[object-oriented programming]] features, and file input/output, may also be provided. A high-level language allows for source code that is detached and separated from the machine details. That is, unlike low-level languages like assembly and machine code, high-level language code may result in data movements without the programmer's knowledge. Some control of what instructions to execute is handed to the compiler.

==History==
{{Expand section|examples of more recent high-level programming languages|date=November 2025}}
In the 1960s, the term ''[[autocode]]'' was commonly used to describe a high-level programming language that relied on a compiler. Notable examples of such autocodes include COBOL and Fortran.

The earliest high-level programming language ever designed for computers was [[Plankalkül]], developed by Konrad Zuse. However, it was never implemented during his lifetime, and his pioneering work remained largely disconnected from other advancements due to the disruptions of World War II. Even so, Plankalkül influenced Heinz Rutishauser’s [[Superplan]] language and, to a lesser extent, the development of ALGOL.

The first high-level language to achieve widespread adoption was [[Fortran]], a machine-independent evolution of IBM’s earlier Autocode systems. Around the same time, the [[ALGOL]] family emerged—ALGOL 58 in 1958 and ALGOL 60 in 1960—created by joint committees of European and American computer scientists. ALGOL introduced key innovations such as recursion, nested functions under lexical scope, and a clear distinction between value and name parameters with their respective semantics. It also pioneered several structured programming concepts, including the ''while-do'' loop and ''if-then-else'' statements, and became the first language whose syntax was formally defined using [[Backus–Naur form]] (BNF).

Meanwhile, [[COBOL]] brought the concept of [[Record (computer science)|records]] (also known as structs) into mainstream programming, and [[Lisp]] became the first language to implement a fully general [[Anonymous function|lambda abstraction]].

==Abstraction penalty==
A high-level language provides features that standardize common tasks, permit rich debugging, and maintain architectural agnosticism. On the other hand, a low-level language requires the coder to work at a lower-level of abstraction which is generally more challenging, but does allow for [[program optimization |optimizations]] that are not possible with a high-level language. This ''abstraction penalty'' for using a high-level language instead of a low-level language is real, but in practice, low-level optimizations rarely improve performance at the [[user experience]] level.<ref>{{cite journal
|author=Surana P
|title=Meta-Compilation of Language Abstractions.
|year=2006
|url=http://lispnyc.org/meeting-assets/2007-02-13_pinku/SuranaThesis.pdf
|access-date=2008-03-17
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217154926/http://lispnyc.org/meeting-assets/2007-02-13_pinku/SuranaThesis.pdf
|archive-date=2015-02-17
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| first = Argyn
| last = Kuketayev
| website = Application Development Trends
| title = The Data Abstraction Penalty (DAP) Benchmark for Small Objects in Java.
| url = http://www.adtmag.com/joop/article.aspx?id=4597
| access-date = 2008-03-17
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090111091710/http://www.adtmag.com/joop/article.aspx?id=4597
| archive-date = 2009-01-11
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| last1 = Chatzigeorgiou
| last2 = Stephanides
| editor-last = Blieberger
| editor2-last = Strohmeier
| contribution = Evaluating Performance and Power Of Object-Oriented Vs. Procedural Programming Languages
| title = Proceedings - 7th International Conference on Reliable Software Technologies - Ada-Europe'2002
| year = 2002
| pages = 367
| publisher = Springer
}}</ref> None the less, code that needs to run quickly and efficiently may require the use of a lower-level language, even if a higher-level language would make the coding easier to write and maintain. In many cases, critical portions of a program mostly in a high-level language are coded in assembly in order to meet tight timing or memory constraints. A well-designed compiler for a high-level language can produce code comparable in efficiency to what could be coded by hand in assembly, and the higher-level abstractions sometimes allow for optimizations that beat the performance of hand-coded assembly.<ref>
{{Cite journal
|author1=Manuel Carro |author2=José F. Morales |author3=Henk L. Muller |author4=G. Puebla |author5=M. Hermenegildo | journal = Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on Compilers, Architecture and Synthesis for Embedded Systems
| title = High-level languages for small devices: a case study
| url = http://www.clip.dia.fi.upm.es/papers/carro06:stream_interpreter_cases.pdf
| year = 2006
| publisher = ACM
}}</ref> Since a high-level language is designed independent of a specific computing [[Computer architecture |system architecture]], a program written in such a language can run on any computing context with a compatible compiler or interpreter.

Unlike a low-level language that is inherently tied to processor hardware, a high-level language can be improved, and new high-level languages can evolve from others with the goal of aggregating the most popular constructs with improved features. For example, [[Scala (programming language)|Scala]] maintains backward compatibility with [[Java (programming language)|Java]]. Code written in Java continue to be usable even if a developer switches to Scala. This makes the transition easier and extends the lifespan of a [[codebase]]. In contrast, low-level programs rarely survive beyond the [[Computer architecture |system architecture]] which they were written for.

== Relative meaning ==
{{refimprove section|date=October 2018}}

The terms ''high-level'' and ''low-level'' are inherently relative, and languages can be compared as higher or lower level to each other. Sometimes the [[C (programming language)|C language]] is considered as either high-level or low-level depending on one's perspective. Regardless, most agree that C is higher level than assembly and lower level than most other languages.

C supports constructs such as expression evaluation, [[parameter |parameterized]] and recursive functions, data types and structures which are generally not supported in assembly or directly by a processor but C does provide lower-level features such as auto-increment and pointer math. But C lacks many higher-level abstracts common in other languages such as [[garbage collection]] and a built-in string type. In the introduction of [[The C Programming Language]] (second edition) by [[Brian Kernighan]] and [[Dennis Ritchie]], C is described as "not a very high level" language.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kernighan|first1=Brian W.|last2=Ritchie|first2=Dennis M.|date=1988|title=The C Programming Language: 2nd Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGkPBQAAQBAJ|url-status=bot: unknown|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=9780131103627|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025180501/https://books.google.com/books?id=FGkPBQAAQBAJ|archive-date=25 October 2022|access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref>

Assembly language is higher-level than machine code, but still highly tied to the processor hardware. However, assembly may provide some higher-level features such as [[Macro (computer science)|macro]]s, relatively limited expressions, constants, variables, procedures, and [[data structure]]s.

[[Machine code]] is at a slightly higher level abstraction than the [[microcode]] or [[micro-operation]]s used internally in many processors.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The art of assembly language|last=Hyde, Randall.|date=2010|publisher=No Starch Press|isbn=9781593273019|edition= 2nd|location=San Francisco|oclc=635507601|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYHtTvQ-ObIC}}</ref>

== Execution modes ==
{{refimprove section|find=Execution modes|date=October 2018}}
The source code of a high-level language may be processed in various ways, such as:

; Compiled: A [[compiler]] transforms source code into other code. In some cases, a compiler generates native machine code that is interpreted by the processor; however, many execution models today involve generating an [[intermediate representation]] (i.e. [[bytecode]]) that is later interpreted in software or converted to native code at runtime (via [[JIT compilation]]).

; [[Transpiled]]: Code may be translated into source code of another language (typically lower-level) for which a compiler or interpreter is available. [[JavaScript]] and the [[C (programming language)|C]] are common targets for such translators. For example, C and C++ code can be seen as generated from Eiffel code when using the [[EiffelStudio]] IDE. In Eiffel, the ''translated'' process is referred to as ''transcompiling'' or ''transcompiled'', and the Eiffel compiler as a transcompiler or [[source-to-source compiler]].

; Software interpreted: A [[interpreter (software)|software interpreter]] performs the actions encoded in source code without generating native machine code.

; Hardware interpreted: Although uncommon, a processor with a [[high-level language computer architecture]] can process a high-level language without a compilation step. For example, the [[Burroughs large systems]] were target machines for [[ALGOL 60]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Chu|first=Yaohan|chapter=Concepts of High-Level Language Computer Architecture|date=1975|pages=1–14|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9780121741501|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-174150-1.50007-0|title=High-Level Language Computer Architecture}}</ref>

Note that a language is not strictly interpreted or compiled. Rather, an execution model involves a compiler or an interpreter and the same language might be used with different execution models. For example, [[ALGOL 60]] and [[Fortran]] have both been interpreted even though they were more typically compiled. Similarly, Java shows the difficulty of trying to apply these labels to languages, rather than to implementations. Java is compiled to bytecode which is then executed by either interpreting in a [[Java virtual machine]] (JVM) or JIT compiled.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Computer programming}}
* [[Generational list of programming languages]]
* [[Categorical list of programming languages]]
* [[Very high-level programming language]]s
* [[Low-level programming language]]s
* [[High-level assembler]]
* [[Abstraction (computer science)]]
{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?HighLevelLanguage - The [[WikiWikiWeb]]'s article on high-level programming languages

{{Types of programming languages}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:High-Level Programming Language}}
[[Category:High-level programming languages| ]]
[[Category:Programming language classification]]

High-level programming language - Revision history

imported>Mindmatrix: revert to previous intro, though something that falls between these two would be preferred