Eli5: What is the difference between various programming languages? Dont they all do the same thing?
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There can be differences in philosophy, maybe a language focusses on speed but another focusses on reliability or on being easy to use, this influences the design of the language.
Some languages might have been conceived with a specific purpose in mind, such as web development or statistical calculations.
When considering multiple platforms (PCs, smartphones, printers, fridges…) and operative systems there can also be technical differences that limit your choices or have different degrees of portability.
There are obviously differences in syntax where you write the same instructions in different ways, in this sense you can find languages that are more verbose or more minimalistic.
There are different approaches related to how you are meant to structure your programs, this also results in important differences between languages but it’s hard to explain. For example some languages are all about defining the steps one after another, but others let you focus more on how the things interact with each other.
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