What was the first computer programming language?

Updated: 11/12/2023 by Computer Hope
Computer programming

Officially, the first programming language for a computer was Plankalkül, developed by Konrad Zuse for the Z3 between 1943 and 1945. However, it was not implemented until 1998.

Short Code, proposed by John Mauchly in 1949, is considered the first high-level programming language. It was designed to represent mathematical expressions in a format readable by human beings. However, because it had to be translated into machine code before being executed, it had relatively slow processing speeds.

Other early programming languages were developed in the 1950s and 1960s, including Autocode, COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language), FLOW-MATIC, and LISP (LISt Processor). Of these, only COBOL and LISP are still in use today.

Tip

Ada Lovelace is considered the first programmer, but she did not use the first programming language.