Top Features of 5th Generation Programming Languages
Published: 2020-01-29 12:20:39





Like humans, and any other living being computer also need a language to understand the instructions given to it. In order to make understand computers our language, computer programming languages were developed. The very first programming language was “Plankalkül”. But it wasn’t in use till the 1970s. After this many languages were developed as early top programming languages like COBOL, LISP, Autocode, and FLOW-MATIC. From all of these languages, LISP and COBOL are still in use. 

After a lot of development in computer programming languages, the current programming language generation is fifth. These languages are mainly developed for fields like Artificial neural networks and artificial intelligence. The focus of the 5th generation programming language is on constraint programming. Examples of 5th generation programming languages are Mercury, Prolog, and OPS5. 

Fifth-Generation Programming Languages

Fifth-generation programming languages like Mercury, Prolog, and OPS5 will be in the <a href="https://www.brsoftech.com/blog/top-programming-languages-of-the-future/" target="_blank">top 10 Programming Languages 2020</a>

Here we will discuss some 5th generation programming language advantages its features.

![Mercury](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/n807afvfrqx8dapry8x4.jpeg)
Credit: sciencedirect.com

1.Mercury

Mercury is a purely 5th generation logical programming language. That is used for the creation of reliable, fast, and large programs. The syntax of Mercury is similar to the syntax of Prolog. But both languages are very different because of the module system, type, purity, mode, and determinism of Mercury. Mercury allows programmers to abstract their own data types. The compiler of Mercury is also written in Mercury itself. Programming of mercury consists of more than one module. 

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Features of Mercury

It is very efficient
It is a typed and modded language
Mercury does not have non-logical side effects because of predicates and functions 
It is a purely declarative programming language
It has strong determinism and module system
It supports higher-order programming

![Prolog](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/usyzq8b1ofd4e6f98vhx.png)
Credit: lpa.co.uk

2.Prolog

Prolog is a short form of Programming with Logic. It is a high-level programming level. Sometimes it is also known as rule-based language. Like Mercury, Prolog is also a logical and declarative programming language that plays an important role in the artificial language (AI). Logics are expressed as relations in Prolog. It is an excellent choice for rapid prototyping process. Prolog can determine whether a statement is following the logic or not. Prolog programs are often smaller and easier to maintain. Prolog works with Linux, Windows and Mac OS. 


Features of Prolog

Unification: A standard unification algorithm carries out an occurs check. When Prolog unifies two terms, it performs all the necessary instantiations, so that the terms are equal afterwards 
Backtracking: Backtracking is a characteristic feature of Prolog. Prolog has a specific way of answering queries like backtracking to recover from bad choices.
Recursion: Predicates of Prolog can be recursively defined. A predicate is defined recursively if one or more laws apply to itself in its description.

![OPS5](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/8i1ao7h21puypk44ne0g.png)
Credit: Computer.org

3.OPS5

OPS5 is a short form of “Official Production System”. It was developed by Charles Forgey in the 1970s. It is also one of the 5th generation programming languages. OPS5 was the first language to use in an expert system which was R1/XCON. It is a production system programming language. Earlier OPS5 was written in Lisp after some time it was written in BLISS to improve the speed. OPS5 supports built-in inference mechanism engine like backward chaining and forward chaining. These are used in some work with OPS5. The extended version of OPS5 language is DEC OPS5. 


Features of OPS5

DEC OPS5 was developed to use with operating systems like RISC ULTRIX, VMS, and DEC OSF/1.   
Used in expert systems, artificial intelligence, and cognitive psychology
To allow the programmer to guide the execution of rules, it supports various priority schemes and grouping.

<a href="https://www.brsoftech.com/blog/top-programming-languages-for-mobile-app-development/" target="_blank">Read More About Other Programming languages</a>




Conclusion 

With the help of 5th generation programming languages, development of decision-making machines become easy. To reduce the efforts of the programmer or developer it provides system automation that is the biggest advantage of 5th generation programming language. 

Reference: https://www.mercurylang.org/about.html
           http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/