General-purpose programming language

In computer software, a general-purpose programming language is a programming language designed to be used for writing software in the widest variety of application domains (a general-purpose language). A general-purpose language has this status because it does not include language constructs designed to be used within a specific application domain (e.g., a page description language contains constructs intended to make it easier to write programs that control the layout of text and graphics on a page).

Conversely, a domain-specific programming language is one designed to be used within a specific application domain.

The following are some general-purpose languages:

See also

• General-purpose markup language
• General-purpose modeling language