high-level language


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Related to high-level language: assembly language, machine language

high-level language

a computer programming language that resembles natural language or mathematical notation and is designed to reflect the requirements of a problem; examples include Ada, BASIC, C, COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

high-level language

[′hī ‚lev·əl ′laŋ·gwij]
(computer science)
A computer language whose instructions or statements each correspond to several machine language instructions, designed to make coding easier. Also known as higher-level language; higher-order language.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

high-level language

(HLL) A programming language which provides some level of abstraction above assembly language. These normally use statements consisting of English-like keywords such as "FOR", "PRINT" or "GOTO", where each statement corresponds to several machine language instructions. It is much easier to program in a high-level language than in assembly language though the efficiency of execution depends on how good the compiler or interpreter is at optimising the program.

Rarely, the variants "VHLL" and "MLL" are found.

See also languages of choice, generation.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

high-level language

A machine-independent programming language, such as C, C++, Java, Perl and COBOL. It lets the programmer concentrate on the logic of the problem to be solved rather than the intricacies of the machine architecture such as is required with low-level assembly languages.

There are dramatic differences between high-level languages. Look up the programming language terms such as BASIC, C and Java and review the sample code. What is considered high level also depends on the era. There were assembly languages 50 years ago that were easier to use than many high-level languages today. Contrast with assembly language and machine language. See programming language, C, BASIC and Java.
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Many high-level language implementations use the analogue of the following set of representations, the least-absolute residue (LAR) system:
Technical correspondence

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