Third-generation programming language

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A third-generation programming language (3GL) is a high-level computer programming language that tends to be more machine-independent and programmer-friendly than the machine code of the first-generation and assembly languages of the second-generation, while having a less specific focus to the fourth and fifth generations.^[1] Examples of common and historical third-generation programming languages are ALGOL, BASIC, C, COBOL, Fortran, Java, and Pascal.