Computer Languages are syntax, grammar, and symbols or words. These are used to give instructions to a computer. Computers work with binary numbers, the first-generation languages were called machine languages. It is difficult to write error-free programs in machine language; many languages have been created to make programming easier and faster. Symbolic languages or second-generation languages were introduced in the early 1950s. They used simple mnemonics such as A for add or M for multiply, which are translated into machine language by a computer program called an assembler. An extension of such a language is the macroinstruction, a mnemonic (such as Read) for which the assembler substitutes a series of simpler mnemonics.

In the mid-1950s, a third generation of languages came into use, they were called high-level languages because they are largely independent of the hardware, and these algorithmic, or procedural, languages are designed for solving a particular type of problem. Unlike machine or symbolic languages, they vary little between computers. They must be translated into machine code by a program called a compiler or interpreter.

The first such language was Fortran (FORmula TRANslation), developed about 1956 and best used for scientific calculation. The first commercial language, COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language), was developed about 1959. ALGOL (ALGOrithmic Language), developed in Europe about 1958, is used primarily in mathematics and science, as is APL (A Programming Language), published in 1962.

PL/1 (Programming Language 1) developed in the late 1960s, and ADA developed in 1981, are designed for both business and scientific use.
For Personal Computers the most popular languages are BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), developed in 1967 and similar to FORTRAN, and Pascal, introduced in 1971 as a teaching language.
Modula 2, a Pascal-like language for commercial and mathematical applications, was introduced in 1982.
The C language, introduced in 1972 to implement the Unix operating system, has been extended to C++ to deal with the rigors of Object-Oriented Programming.

Fourth-generation languages are nonprocedural-they specify what is to be accomplished without describing how. The first one, FORTH, developed in 1970, is used in scientific and industrial control applications.
Fifth-generation languages, is an outgrowth of Artificial Intelligence research.
PROLOG (PROgramming LOGic) is useful for programming logical processes and making deductions automatically.
GPSS (General Purpose System Simulator) is used for modeling physical and environmental events, and SNOBOL (String-Oriented Symbolic Language) and LISP (LISt Processing) are designed for pattern matching and list processing.
LOGO, a version of LISP, was developed in the 1960s to help children learn about computers. PILOT (Programmed Instruction Learning, Or Testing) is used in writing instructional software, and Occam is a nonessential language that optimizes the execution of a program's instructions in Parallel-Processing systems.