RPG II is a business-oriented language. The name stands for report program generator. RPG is considerably different from other programming languages. RPG is, in effect, a large prewritten program. The programmer simply indicates the options within the master program that are to be used and, through a set of indicators, when they are to be used.
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RPG was originally referred to as a "quick-and-dirty" programming language. That is, it is quick for the programmer to write and relatively inefficient in its use of main storage and processing speed. The latest version of RPG, called RPG II, greatly improved the language and gave it additional capabilities. RPG has an advantage over COBOL in that it requires less training for a programmer to become proficient in it. For this reason, RPG is commonly used on many smaller computers and in small business.
2. BASIC
BASIC is the acronym for beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code. It was developed in Dartmouth College as an easy-to-learn programming language for students and inexperienced programmers. Its key design goal is simplicity. BASIC has become a very popular language in systems where many users share the use of a computer through terminals and it has become a universal language for personal computers.
The language BASIC is mathematically oriented, that is, its typical use is to solve problems of a mathematical nature. Because BASIC programs are usually executed from a terminal or microcomputer where input is entered through a keyboard and printed output is relatively slow, problems of a business nature requiring large volumes of input-output data are usually not practical.
3. PASCAL
PASCAL was invented in 1970 by Professor Niklaus Wirth of Zurich, Switzerland. It was named after the mathematician Blaise Pascal, who invented one of the earliest practical calculators. PASCAL is a mathematically oriented programming language and, as such, is most commonly used in mathematics, engineering, and computer science departments of colleges and universities. This language is somewhat unusual in that it was designed to be a structured language. This means that the program must be written in logical modules which are in turn called by a main controlling module. Much of PASCAL'S popularity is due to work done at the University of California at San Diego, where PASCAL has been implemented on several different computers including microcomputers.
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