Compiled and interpreted languages can be a bit confusing at first but the way they work is what sets the difference between them.

A compiled language is translated directly into object code (lower level representation) and the testing for this code comes after the translating process. The object code can then be read by a low level language so the processor can understand it. This means that if there is a change to be made in the original code the entire code has to be translated into object code again before re-testing.

On the other hand, interpreted languages are translated into machine code and tested line by line by a separate software. This method tends to be a bit slower but the benefit of using interpreted languages is that if there were to be an error in one of the lines of code the program will stop running and won’t move to the next line until that error is fixed.

Next we have programming paradigms. These are used to classify how instructions will be given to a computer through programming languages. First we have an imperative paradigm in which we use a set of statements to instruct a computer to do a specific task. Then we have a declarative paradigm. In this paradigm we rely on pre-built code or a knowledge base to indicate on what the end result for our code is but we do not specify how to compute it.

Here we have 5 examples of high-level programming languages:

C: It is a compiled and imperative language. It was developed in Bell Labs and published in 1972. It is considered the first true high-level language. Google’s file system is made with this language.

C++: It is a compiled and imperative language. It is an improvement to the C language and it came out in 1983. It was developed by Bjorn Strauss. This language is also known as C with classes. Some examples of products that use this language are Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Python: It is an interpreted language that can use both imperative and declarative paradigms. It was released in 1991 and was developed by Guido van Rossum. Products that use this language are Youtube and Instagram.

Microsoft Visual Basic: It is a compiled and imperative language. It was developed in 1991 by Microsoft. Products that use this language are Microsoft Word and Excel.

JavaScript: It is an interpreted language and both imperative and declarative languages can be used. It was published in 1995 and it was designed by Brendan Eich. It can be abbreviated as JS and is a core technology of the World Wide Web. Products that use JavaScript are Netflix and Angry Birds.