Because writing machine or assembly language software was so difficult and confusing, people developed supplementary languages that look more like human languages, with names such as FORTRAN, BASIC and Pascal. By making programming languages look more like common human languages, the developers of these top languages desired to make programs simpler to write and modify later on. One of the first high level programing languages was FORTRAN (which is the standard for FORmula TRANslator).
FORTRAN was projected specifically for numerical calculations. Another early high level language was COBOL (COmmon Business- Oriented Language), which was planned for business data processing.
Since each language has a specific purpose, most people aren’t going to use FORTRAN or COBOL to write video games, operational systems, or word processors (although you can still do so if you truly want). Because programing was still too difficult for many people, computer scientists soon produced both Pascal and BASIC to teach people programing. BASIC – Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code – was planned to teach complete beginners how to program. Beginners could start studying to program by using C, but the the complexity of C can discourage people too soon.
Compared with Pascal, BASIC is less organic, which makes writing a BASIC program comfortable but makes reading and understanding large BASIC programs much more difficult. Pascal is more organized and forces you to plan your program before you write, as you do if you first plan a jaunt before leaving home.
This planning may take longer, but your program and your trip will be more prepared than if you rush into writing the program right away, which can be as broken as showing up in London in the middle of the night with no hotel reservations.
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