Survey of Programming Languages – Lesson 1 Vocabulary

Traditional vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, languages, historical figures, and paradigms from Lesson 1.

Survey

A systematic examination or overview of a subject or field.

Programming

The process of creating instructions that tell a computer how to perform tasks.

Language (in computing)

A formal system of notation with syntax and semantics used to communicate instructions to a computer.

Survey of Programming Languages (SPL)

An academic study that compares and contrasts multiple programming languages and their paradigms.

Programming Language (PL)

A notation that provides rules for specifying, organizing and reasoning about computations.

Programming Paradigm (PP)

A philosophical style or model that guides the design and use of programming languages.

Assembly Language

Low-level symbolic code that maps directly to machine instructions; first widely used computer language (1940s).

Plankalkül

The first high-level programming language, designed by Konrad Zuse (1943-1954).

Autocode

Early 1950s compiled language by Alick Glennie; automatically translated to machine code.

FLOW-MATIC

English-like language (1955-1959) led by Grace Hopper; major influence on COBOL.

FORTRAN

Formula Translation language (1957); first widely used general-purpose high-level PL.

LISP

List Processing language (1958) by John McCarthy; pioneering functional language.

ALGOL

ALGOrithmic Language (1958/1960); introduced structured programming concepts.

COBOL

COmmon Business-Oriented Language (1959); designed for business data processing.

Grace Hopper

Computer pioneer who championed FLOW-MATIC and contributed to COBOL development.

Turing Machine

Abstract machine model forming the theoretical basis of computation and stored programs.

John von Neumann Architecture

Computer design that stores program instructions and data in the same memory.

Compiler

A program that translates high-level source code into machine code or another lower-level form.

High-Level Programming Language

Language whose syntax is closer to human reasoning than to machine code, easing development.

Imperative Programming

Paradigm that describes computation as sequences of statements that change program state.

Procedural Programming

Imperative subtype focused on procedures/functions to structure programs.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

Paradigm organized around objects, classes, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.

Functional Programming

Declarative paradigm where computation is the evaluation of mathematical functions without state change.

Logic Programming

Paradigm that expresses programs as logic facts and rules, executed via inference (e.g., Prolog).

Declarative Programming

Style that specifies what result is wanted rather than how to obtain it.

Structural Programming

Programming style emphasizing control-flow constructs (sequence, selection, iteration) and modularity.

Literate Programming

Approach that combines code and documentation in a single, readable narrative.

Recursion

Technique where a function calls itself to solve a problem by reducing it to sub-problems.

Encapsulation

OOP principle of bundling data with methods that operate on that data, hiding implementation details.

Polymorphism

OOP ability for different types to be treated through a uniform interface, enabling code reuse.

Abstraction

OOP concept of modeling essential features while hiding unnecessary details.

Inheritance

OOP mechanism by which one class acquires properties and behavior of another.

Multi-Paradigm / Hybrid Language

A language supporting features from multiple programming paradigms (e.g., Python, Scala).

Naming and Binding

Rules governing how identifiers are associated with program entities and when those associations occur.

Ada Lovelace

19th-century mathematician credited with writing the first algorithm intended for a machine.

Charles Babbage

Inventor of the Analytical Engine, an early mechanical general-purpose computer.

ENIAC

Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (1946); one of the first electronic general-purpose computers.

Konrad Zuse

German engineer who built the Z3 computer and designed Plankalkül.

John Mauchly

Co-designer of ENIAC; authored an early high-level language in 1949.

Van Wijngaarden Grammar

Formal notation (ALGOL 68) for defining complex language syntax and semantics.

SQL

Structured Query Language (1978); declarative language for relational database queries.

C

Systems programming language (1972) designed by Dennis Ritchie; influential in later PLs.

C++

Extension of C with OOP features, created by Bjarne Stroustrup (1983).

Java

Object-oriented, platform-independent language released by Sun Microsystems in 1995.

Python

High-level, multi-paradigm scripting language created by Guido van Rossum (1991).

Scheme

Minimalist dialect of Lisp (1975) emphasizing functional programming and tail recursion.

Haskell

Purely functional language (1990) featuring lazy evaluation and strong static typing.

Prolog

PROgramming in LOGic (1972); principal logic programming language.