The number of programming languages in the world is estimated to be between 2,000 and 4,000, with an average of 3 new languages being proposed each month. Common Features Programming Paradigms High-level Languages History Compilers and Interpreters 1. Ways to divide the problem up into manageable parts and solve each part, e.g. functions. Ways to hide the irrelevant details in a safe way, e.g. data structures. Ways to make debugging easier, e.g. type-checking.
Programming paradigms describe the core concepts or methods that are used in a programming language.
Functional Languages, e.g. ML, Lisp. Logical Languages, e.g. Prolog. Parallel Languages, e.g. Concurrent Pascal, threads in Java. High-level languages improve the readability of programs and make debugging much easier. A compiler is a program that automatically translates a high-level language into machine code.