Unit 3 Listen and Read:
Algorithmic languages
Algorithmic language is a formal language intended for describing computational processes or, equivalently, for writing down algorithms to be executed by computers. One distinguishes between problem-oriented algorithmic languages (high-level languages), which are not related to any specific machine, and machine-oriented algorithmic languages (low-level languages), which take the specific features of a given machine into account (instruction set, addressing modes, etc.). The term "algorithmic language" usually refers to a problem-oriented language, as opposed to machine code, which is a notation that is directly interpreted by a machine. For the well-formed texts of an algorithmic language (programs, cf. Program) a general algorithm defines their execution in a unique way, which is the distinction between algorithmic languages and non-algorithmic programming languages, for which the execution process for a text is fully undetermined or the text merely serves as material for the synthesis of an algorithm. As in natural languages, an algorithmic language is constructed over an alphabet of basic symbols in the form of a hierarchical system of grammatical elements.