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General Characteristics of Programming
THE THIRD GENERATION: For Programmer Convenience
No matter which high-level language a program is written in, it must be translated into machine language before it can be executed. System software programs called compilers and interpreters perform this task.
Third-generation language (3GLs) fall into three categories: procedure-oriented languages, problem-oriented languages, and object-oriented languages. Each category includes a number of different languages.
Procedure-Oriented Languages
The introduction of the third generation of programming languages resulted in a quantum leap in programmer convenience. With third-generation languages, programmers could write a single instruction in lieu of several cumbersome low-level instructions. Programmers can use 3GLs to model almost any scientific or business procedure. Early 3GLs fell in the procedure-oriented language category. Procedure-oriented languages require programmers to solve programming problems using traditional programming logic; that is, programmers code, or write, the instructions in the sequence in which they must be executed to solve the problem. Procedure-oriented languages are classified as business, scientific, or multipurpose.
Business languages.
Business-oriented 3GLs are designed to be effective tools for developing business information systems. The strength of business 3Gls lies in their ability to store, retrieve, and manipulate alphanumeric data.
COBOL, the first business programming language, was introduced in 1959. It remains the most popular. The original intent of the developers of COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was to make its instructions approximate the English language.
