Why were high-level languages developed?

Answer 1

Because machine-language programming is extremely time-consuming, programmers began using English-like abbreviations to code the programs. High-level languages were developed to improve programming efficiency by requiring fewer coding statements.

Answer 2

Computers only understand machine code -- they cannot execute high-level languages without an interpreter or compiler to translate the code into machine code. Java uses a compiler to produce byte code which then has to be interpreted by the Java virtual machine to produce machine code. Most other compiled languages produce machine code although some compilers produce assembly language which requires an assembler to produce the machine code.

Answer 3

High-level programs are essential because low-level programming requires intimate knowledge of the underlying hardware, is laborious and time-consuming, and prone to error. Low-level code is machine-dependant and is therefore non-portable. With high-level code, there is a higher degree of abstraction (separation) between the code you write and machine you're programming, thus code is not only easier and quicker to write, it becomes more portable. It is the job of the machine's compiler or interpreter to translate the high-level code into a machine-dependant format. Programmers can also express their ideas directly in high-level code more easily than they can with machine-dependant code, thus code is easier to read and therefore easier to maintain.

Answer 4

Let me help you with an example:

low level language program:

18 C5 47 A3 B1 84 10 22 54

high level language program:

PRINT "Hello"

While the previous contributor's answer (above) provides a drastic example which demonstrates the point correctly, the "low level language" example given is not correct. What is shown is machine code in a human readable form, which is generally considered lower than low level languages. Assembly languages are generally considered low-level languages, where each instruction in the language corresponds to one machine instruction. In contrast, high level languages supply a 1-to-many relationship between language constructs and machine code; the PRINT statement shown in the example above may result in a great number of machine code instructions, including conditionals, loops and other controls.

In more general terms, higher level languages allow focusing on the abstract solution of a general problem (i.e. the implementation of the algorithm) rather than the realization of that solution within a specific processor.