This document discusses programming languages. It begins by asking what a programming language is and why there are so many types. It then defines a programming language as a set of rules that tells a computer what operations to perform. The document discusses the different types of programming languages like low-level languages close to machine code and high-level languages closer to English. It covers many popular programming languages from early generations like FORTRAN and COBOL to modern languages like C, C++, Java, and scripting languages. It concludes by discussing qualities of good programming languages like writability, readability, reliability and maintainability.