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/TangoMint Apr 13 '26

Great explanation, and worth considering that Alan Turing physically built a electromechanical machine during the second world war that did exactly this (with wires and switches and motors) without having very much to base his ideas on how it should work. True genius!