title: What is a programming language?
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1325686/what-is-a-computer-programming-language">What is a computer programming language?</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>No, really.</p>
  
  <p>I've struggled to come up with a really great definition. Here's my take till now:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>A programming language is a formal language, containing syntax. Syntactical rules are used to form statements. Programming languages are used to create a set of instructions that a computer can understand. A collection of syntactical statements is called a program.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I know it doesn't read very well, so it would be nice to have some help in this.</p>
  
  <p><br><br>
  Here's <strong>Wikipedia's</strong> first paragraph <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language" rel="nofollow noreferrer">on the topic</a>:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>A programming language is an artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine, to express algorithms precisely, or as a mode of human communication.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I think it's one of those things in life that everyone knows what it is, but it's deceivingly difficult to define.</p>
  
  <p>Am I alone? Your thoughts?</p>