Fourth-generation programming language
lastmod 2018-08-17created 2017-11-211 edits
A fourth-generation programming language (4th-Generation Propramming Language: 4GL) refers to the programming languages that came after sequential languages. They are called fourth-generation because machine language is regarded as the first generation, assembly language as the second, and sequential languages as the third. The term generally refers to programming languages with higher-level capabilities than sequential languages such as FORTRAN or COBOL. They are mainly used to develop application programs and are often provided together with a specific application support system (for example, a database such as Oracle's PL/SQL). A characteristic of fourth-generation languages is that not only programmers but also ordinary users can perform business tasks such as spreadsheet calculations, or write programs, by specifying simple arguments interactively.