What is a Programming Language?

Imagine you need to tell your friend to bring their Mathematics notebook to school for checking. There are two main ways to convey this message: verbally or through a text. The important thing is that your friend should understand what you’re trying to say, and language plays a crucial role in this.

If both of you understand the English language, you can easily communicate the message, and your friend will understand what you mean. This demonstrates that language is essential for effective communication between two people.

Likewise, if you want your computer to perform a specific task, such as calculating the area of a rectangle, you and the computer need to agree on a language that you both can understand. To achieve this, you must communicate with the computer using a programming language. This is why learning a programming language is necessary—to establish effective communication and give instructions to the computer.

Definition of Programming Language

A programming language is like a special type of language that we, as programmers, use to talk to computers. It’s the way we give instructions and tell the computer what to do.

There are many different programming languages out there, each with its own unique features and uses. However, in this course, we will focus on learning one specific language called C. We will take it step by step, gradually building our understanding, so that we can effectively communicate with computers using the C programming language.