| a problem-oriented programming language, as COBOL, FORTRAN, or PL/1, that uses English-like statements and symbols to create sequences of computer instructions and identify memory locations, rather than the machine-specific individual instruction codes and numerical addresses employed by machine language. |
high-level language
(HLL) A programming language which provides some level of abstraction above assembly language. These normally use statements consisting of English-like keywords such as "FOR", "PRINT" or "GOTO", where each statement corresponds to several machine language instructions. It is much easier to program in a high-level language than in assembly language though the efficiency of execution depends on how good the compiler or interpreter is at optimising the program.
Rarely, the variants "VHLL" and "MLL" are found.
See also languages of choice, generation.
(1994-12-07)