First Generation

First Generation The first generation of programming language is machine level code, made up of 1s and 0s, otherwise known as binary. To start with, there was no translator to compile this language. Instructions where entered though a series of switches on the front panel. The main good point about the first generation language is that it was very fast to run, as it was directed straight to the CPU for processing, but it is very hard to learn, and due to the fact that the program is entered through a series of switches, it is hard to edit. Also, if the program wanted to be moved to another computer, it would have to be completely re-written because the language for the other computer would be significantly different to the other. This language is mainly used on older computers or on mainframes. Any native-code compiler creates machine language, which is done without user interaction, mostly from higher level languages like FORTRAN, C or Pascal. This was a very dangerous way of coding. Any typing error could result in a crash.

Second Generation Blah

Third Generation Blah

Forth Generation A forth generation programming language is designed to handle things, like the development of commercial business software. Some of these languages were brought up after the creation of modern, block structured, third generation programming languages, which improved software development. However, it was still considered by some to be frustrating, slow, and error prone to program computers, which led to the first “programming crisis”, where the amount of work that a programmer might have to do would be a lot bigger than the amount of time the programmer had to do it. . Some believe the first forth generation language was Ramis (see Ramis software) developed by Gerald C. Cohen at Mathematica, a mathematical software company. He later left Mathematica and founded Information Builders to create a similar forth generation

lanuage, called FOCUS. The term ‘forth generation language’ was used in the 60’s. Most of the forth generation languages allowed or required system logic to be written in a macro language or in a third generation language. All forth generation languages are designed to reduce the effort for the programmer, the time it takes to develop the software, and the cost of software development. They are not always successful in this task, sometimes resulting in un-maintainable code. However, given the right problem, the use of an appropriate forth generation language can be spectacularly successful.