A digital computer language is a group of words or numbers that people use to issue commands to computers. Like human languages, computer languages use their own vocabulary and syntax (grammar) to convey specific meanings (semantics). These include...

A function represents a mathematical relationship between two sets of real numbers. These sets of numbers are related to each other by a rule which assigns each value from one set to exactly one value in the other set. The standard notation for a...

In programming, a function is generally defined as a named segment of code that performs a specific task. In this sense a function is the same as a routine or procedure, and the terms are often used interchangeably. In many programming languages,...

The design of large computer programs and the software systems they implement is a complex task. An old saw in programming goes, "Software is harder than hardware," and it means that new computer hardware is developed faster and more easily than new...

A programming language is an artificial language that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer.[1] Programming languages, like natural languages, are defined by syntactic and semantic rules which describe their structure...

Ken Arnold and James Gosling. 1998. 2nd ed, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. [ISBN 0-201-31006-6. 464 pages, including index. $37.95 (softcover).] As more technical communicators settle into documenting the inner workings of systems and related programming outputs, publications like The Java...

Haskell is a standardized pure functional programming language with non-strict semantics. Named after the logician Haskell Curry, it was created by a committee formed in 1987 for the express purpose of defining such a language. The latest semi-official language standard is Haskell 98,...

John Backus, whose development of the Fortran programming language in the 1950s changed how people interacted with computers and paved the way for modern software, has died. He was 82.Backus died Saturday in Ashland, Ore., according to IBM Corp., where he spent his career.Prior to...

One of the most prestigious prizes in computing, the $100,000 Turing Award, went to a woman Wednesday for the first time in the award's 40-year history.Frances E. Allen, 75, was honored for her work at IBM Corp. on techniques for optimizing the performance of compilers,...

Describes the various computer programming languages.