Abstract
Languages are normally divided into natural languages, such as English and French, and artificial languages such as those used for programming, chemical formulas, and mathematical notation. A programming language provides communication between a developer and a computer through use of a stored program. All languages have a syntax, or set of rules, that defines the correct forms for the language. For example
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The cow ate the hay.
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is syntactically correct, whereas
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The cow eated the hay.
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References
For Further Reading
There are a large number of books about programming languages. They vary in projected audience from motivated novice to graduate student. Among the more general works are T. Pratt, Programming Languages: Design and Implementation, Prentice Hall, 1975, which provides a general overview and A. Tucker, Programming Languages, McGraw-Hill, 1977, which describes and compares six languages. (ALGOL, FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/1, RPG and SNOBOL). For persons with some computer science background, E. Horowitz, Fundamentals of Programming Languages, Computer Science Press, 1982, provides an excellent and readable overview of the principle issues.
With respect to specific programming languages, there are many books available. Experienced programmers may be satisfied with a reference manual; novice programmers may require considerably more support. Among the books I have examined are:
COBOL: D. D. McCracken, A Simplified Guide to Structured COBOL Programming, John Wiley, 1976. (McCracken has a clear, mature style and his books for any language are to be recommended.) Also, C. Sass, COBOL Programming and Applications, Allyn and Bacon, 1979.
FORTRAN: J. W. Crowley, C. E. Miller, A Structured Approach to FORTRAN, Prentice Hall, 1983
P. Chirlian, Introduction to Structured Fortran, Matrix Publishers, 1979
A. Balfour, and D. H. Marwick, Programming in Standard FORTRAN 77, North Holland, 1982.
ALGOL: D. Brailsford, and A. Walker, Introductory Algol-68 Programming, Wiley, 1979.
PL/1: J. Hughes, PL/1 Structured Programming, 2nd ed., Wiley, 1979.
PASCAL: R. Conway, D. Gries, E. C. Zimmerman, A Primer on Pascal, Little, Brown, 1981
P. Gregono, Programming in PASCAL, Addison-Wesley, 1980.
BASIC: There are a large number of introductory texts. Most systems come with one. A short and simple book is provided by K. Knecht, Microsoft BASIC, Dilithium Press, 1983.
MUMPS: A Primer and manuals are available from the MUMPS Users Group, College Park, MD 20740.
FORTH: H. Katzen, Invitation to FORTH, Petrocelli, 1981.
APL: R. P. Polivka and S. Pakin, APL The Language and Its Usage, Prentice-Hall, 1975.
Ada: P. Wegner, Programming with Ada, Prentice-Hall, 1980.
LISP: P. H. Winston, LISP, Addison-Wesley, 1981.
PROLOG: W. F. Clocksin and C. S. Mellish, Programming in PROLOG, Springer-Verlag, 1981.
Modula 2: N. Wirth, Programming in Modula-2, Springer-Verlag, 1983.
References
N. Wirth, On the Design of Programming Languages, 1974 IFIP Congress, North Holland, 1974, pp 386–393. Copyright 1974, North Holland.
P. Wegner, Programming Languages—the First 25 Years, IEEE Trans. Comp. (C-25,12) p 1209.
Ibid p 1219.
P. Winston, Artificial Intelligence, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, First Edition 1973 pp 335–340.
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© 1986 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Blum, B.I. (1986). Programming Languages. In: Clinical Information Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-26537-6_4
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