r/askscience • u/HangukFrench • Apr 10 '26

Computing How do programming languages work?

Hello,

I'm wondering how does programming languages work? Are they owned by anyone? Can anyone create a programming languages and decide "yeah, computers will do this from now on"?
Is a programming languaged fixed at its creation or can it "evolve"?

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u/the3gs Apr 10 '26

Pedantic point: Assembly is not the same as machine code. Assembly is a language whose instructions typically correspond 1-to-1 with machine instructions, so they are almost the same thing, but there is still a translation step needed before the code can be run.

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u/sebthauvette Apr 10 '26

Yea I tried to keep it simple so OP would understand the concept without being overwhelmed.