system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELIF: Programming

I just don't understand it but want to learn ;_;. I feel I need to know what it is before I can learn it. Also, how does one language differ from another? How do computers recognize these different languages?

Also #2, please suggest a good starting language. Thank you!
gpt
In addition to what others have said, it's sort of like a set of pre-defined instructions for the computer, with a lot of simple small steps bundled together so that when you say "x + y = z" the computer knows what you mean, because someone already defined "+" and "=".

Let's say you want to teach someone to walk, but they know absolutely nothing about anything, except just enough English to understand you. Before you can tell them to take a step, you have to explain what's inolved in that. So you say "lift up your left foot. Bring your left foot forward a bit. Now bring your left foot back down." You don't want to explain that each time, so after you explain it you tell them "What you just did is called taking a step."

After you explain how to take left and right steps, you might have them take many steps at once, and then say "What you just did is called walking forward." After that  you can use that as a basis for explaining running, jogging, walking backwards or sideways.

Programming languages are kind of like that. Someone has already "taught" the computer how to do the basic things like walking forward, so you as a programmer have the ability to skip straight to more advanced things, by building upon the existing instructions in the language.