What does the code that makes up programming languages look like?

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Take a language like Java. How was it originally created? I can’t wrap my head around how someone invented a computer language to run without having some “prior” language that it allows the first lines to function. Is it just Java all the way down, like someone wrote a single line of Java and then every other line was built on that?

What about the first computer language? What was the basis that that functioned on?

Thanks for any help, I hope that was phrased in a mildly intelligible way.

Edit; I’m trying to think of it like human language: at some point there was a first “word” spoken by someone and understood by another and from there the structure started to be born. What were the first “words” on a computer that led to where we are now?

In: Technology

36 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s easy to build up a small sand castle with just a single small bucket, and this is like binary. If you want to build something amazing, though, you’ll need to have more tools to make the job doable. You can technically use binary to create whatever you like, although it is much easier to program simple programs which encompass basic tasks like adding or subtracting. Then, using this new program as a ‘frame’ for a new program, you can layer on complexity (or remove complexity, depends how you look at it) for accomplishing more complex tasks. This is the difference between coding “bare metal” and using a high-level language like Java.

There was a first word, but instead of thinking of it as a baby learning English, think of it as how humanity learned to communicate – we’re talking ancient runic text instead of “mom” or “dad”. Compared to programming, English itself is like a high-level language.

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