RE Course - 2.4 - Programming Languages
There are many different programming languages including Python, Java, C, C++, C#, JavaScript, PHP, Lua, F#, Ruby, Go, Assembly, Fortran, COBOL, and many more. There are also variations of languages such as NodeJS and Ruby on Rails which are JavaScript frameworks. Some languages are also higher levels than others. The higher the level the further away it is from the hardware and typically the easier it is for humans to read and write. For example, C# is a very high-level language and Assembly is a low-level language. C/C++ is considered to be high level, but much lower than something like Java.
Different Uses:
Different languages are used for different tasks and work differently. JavaScript is used in web applications, C/C++ is used for software, and Python is used for scripting. You can, of course, use these languages for other things as well. For example, you can use Python to build websites (what can’t it be used for?).
Execution Differences:
There are two main types of languages: compiled and interpreted.
- Compiled languages are compiled/translated directly into native machine code. This means that any computer that it was compiled for can directly run the program. The nice thing about compiled programs is that they, usually, don’t need an extra program to run them. For instance, if you want to run a Java program you need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) first. However, to run a C++ program you don’t need anything like the JRE to do so. Although you may need to download and install libraries of code.
- Interpreted languages are languages that aren’t compiled directly into machine code but are instead interpreted/translated from their source code indirectly into machine code. This interpretation can be done by compiling parts or even individual lines of code then executing that part. For example, when you run a Python program each line is essentially compiled then executed individually (this isn’t exactly correct but it proves the point). The advantage of this is that the program doesn’t need to be re-written or compiled for specific systems. Instead, users just need to install the appropriate extra software to run your software. The big downside to this is that they tend to be significantly slower than compiled languages.
Another form of interpretation is using some sort of medium such as bytecode (talked about next).
Intermediate Languages
It’s extremely important to talk about intermediate languages. Let’s use Java as an example. A program written in Java is compiled into what’s called Java Bytecode, this is also the binary/executable that will be distributed. You can think of this bytecode as the programming language’s own machine/compiled code. Note that this is not actual native machine code. This bytecode cannot be understood by the system so it needs something to translate that bytecode into machine code. To run a Java program you have to “install Java” (specifically the Java Runtime Environment (JRE)) which then provides a translator for the bytecode. This translator will translate the bytecode into machine code. When the program is executed, the bytecode is interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) which is part of the JRE. When the JVM interprets the bytecode it’s translating the bytecode to machine code which can then be executed natively. A compiler that does this sort of compilation and execution is considered a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler. These sort of languages have the advantage of being portable because as long as the user has the interpreter installed they can run it on any architecture. Of course, the interpreter itself will be architecture specific.
.NET is similar to Java. Quick note, .NET consists of many languages, but C# is “the” .NET language. .NET is compiled into Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) which is just bytecode. This bytecode is then run by a part of the .NET Framework. The part of the .NET Framework I’m referring to is the Common Language Runtime (CLR). The CLR includes garbage collection, security things, and the JIT compiler. That JIT compiler will interpret the bytecode into machine code just as the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) does. As I said, .NET is very similar to Java in terms of how it compiles and executes.
Another huge advantage of these kinds of languages is security. Everything runs through some sort of VM which can do all kinds of security checks and management. Garbage collection is a huge advantage that deserves to be reiterated. Garbage collection makes a developers job easier while also dealing with memory management automatically which is good for security.
Some people consider Java or C# to be compiled, but they call Python interpreted. This is down to how the languages work, or rather, how they think they work. Python is very similar to Java and .NET because Python is actually compiled into bytecode. This bytecode is then interpreted by a VM just like Java and .NET. So really, they aren’t that different. The reason why people don’t consider Python as compiled is because there is no executable, just the .py script. In C# and Java you at least have some form of executable.