Computer language

A computer language is a language used by, or in association with, computers. Often, the term is used synonymously with programming language, but in general a computer language need not be a programming language. For example, markup languages like HTML are generally not held to be programming languages, but they are computer languages.

In general, as with any other kind of language, a computer language arises wherever there is a need to communicate some information from one entity to another. Programming languages foster the communication of programss among programmers and computers; markup languages communicate the formatting or structure of documents among humans and computers; and so on.

Computer languages can be classified into several kinds, including but not limited to the following:

• Programming languages
• Data languages:
  • Markup languages (typically used for producing documents)
  • Specification languages (e.g., Cascading Style Sheets)
  • Communication protocols for networks